


Fireteam of Idiots

by Etacito



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:20:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 88,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21667216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etacito/pseuds/Etacito
Summary: What would happen if US Soldiers deployed in Afghanistan ended up on Remnant after an accident occurred on a patrol? Well lets find out shall we? After all. What could possibly go wrong?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

Oh god my fucking head. What happened? Where am I?

Oh wait that's right we were on patrol.

We were returning to base when everything went black. Did we get hit by an IED? Am I dead?

No I can't possibly be dead since everything hurts. And I'm still in the Humvee. I look to my left and Volk is unconscious. I look behind me and Kopman and Newlin are the same.

I step out of the vehicle and quickly check for pulses. All of them are alive and seem to be well. Except for being unconscious of course. Turning around to take in my new surroundings all I see is a huge field surrounded by an emerald green forest with what looks like ruins with...chess pieces?

Everything is green. The air feels cool and clean. Where the fuck are we? This definitely isn't Helmand Province. The Humvee is still in perfect condition and all our equipment seems to be in working order.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK HAPPENED", a rough voice yells out.

Looks like Cpl. Kopman woke up.

"I have no idea Cpl. but all our equipment seems in order and fire team Charlie is all accounted for and alive. But besides that I'm just as lost as you are." I responded walking over to Kopman as he stumbled out of the Humvee. Respectfully giving the Team leader the sitrep. Getting up close to him I can see his scraggly sad excuse for a beard. After all when on deployment shaving is occasionally overlooked. Sadly all I can grow is a mustache and being Mexican growing that out would only lead to more Mexican jokes. Don't need to give the idiots more ammunition. They already cracked enough speedy Gonzalez jokes when they found out I am am pretty quick on my feet. Kopman is four inches shorter than me standing around 5ft 10 in (178cm) with blond hair and green eyes. He's only slightly older than me at 22 compared to my 19.

"Good shit PFC. Frias wake up the other idiots and get Recon started and see if we can get some kind of comms up while I keep an eye out for hostiles on the tree line. Assume we are still in a combat zone and all ROE still apply. Tracking?"

"Roger Cpl. I'm tracking"

While Kopman aims his M4 at the tree line surrounding us keeping an eye out. I walk over to the other side of the Humvee and open up the driver's door. I see Pvt Volk still unconscious. The shortest in the fireteam at 5ft8in (173cm) we often refer to him as Hitler's wet dream since he's as "Aryan" looking as humanly possible. Its almost like he just came out of a Hitler youth camp with his blonde hair and blue eyes. He's a good guy don't get me wrong, but definitely a fresh outta high school idiot.

*smack* I smack him hard enough across the face to leave a red handprint on his cheek.

"Ah fuck you Frias you goddamn faggot" Volk cries out while clutching his tender face.

"Come on numnuts we got a situation and we need to secure the perimeter. Help Cpl secure the area so we can begin Recon and figure out where the hell we are and what the fuck happened. I'll wake up Newlin."

"Fucking shit… At least this place looks better than that shithole we were in" Volk mumbles as he gets out of his M4 with a mounted M320 grenade launcher heading over to Kopman as while I move onto PFC. Newlin. A massive man easily the strongest guy in the fireteam exactly the same height as me. We call him Private faggot because we found out he went to college for a year to study theatre and entered BCT with a ponytail. That didn't last long his long brown hair was gone the moment he stepped foot in Fort Jackson.

What can I say we're just a bunch of assholes don't let shit like that be common knowledge. I'm pretty sure he buffed up to seem manlier. However we can't deny that he is one of the smartest guys in our platoon.

*smack*

"Ah son of a bitch what the fuck was that for you wetback son of a bitch?"

"Hey private faggot wake the fuck up get your M249 up and running we got a situation. We are in an unknown location and we have no idea where the rest of the patrol went. We are securing the area and-"

"Hey! Who are you guys and how did you get a truck out here? I didn't see you guys at the cliffs. Are you guys lost?" a loud feminine voice yells out at me.

I quickly turn around with my M4 raised and find myself face to face with one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life. She had long flowing blonde hair, absolutely massive rack, cute button nose, heart shaped face…...wait does she have purple eyes?


	2. Introductions

I don't know where we are, but I love this place. Lowering my gun I take in the fact that two of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life are in front of me.

I gotta admit I was confused though. For three reasons mostly. The first being why does she have purple eyes. Contacts? Probably. Secondly, why are they dressed like they are going to the club. Not that I'm complaining of course. They look hot as shit. Just wondering if we got back to the states somehow and landed not to far from a Kegger in the woods. I could really go for an Ice cold beer right now. And lastly, and probably most importantly, why did the cute curvy brunette with the black bow have a katana? Was she cosplaying? Because that shit looks way too real to be safe. Unless she's secretly a ninja badass. Pft. Nah.

Well regardless of my confusion. I really needed to figure all this shit out. Looking over to Newlin I see that he's not going to be any help. Considering his jaw is on the floor and his eyes are glued to her tits. Which seems to be ticking her off a bit. Not that I can blame the guy. She's the hottest and baddest bitch we've seen since leaving home. And even then she beats any girl I've met back home.

Welp. I gotta say something before this gets too awkward.

"Hey! Sorry for my friend here. He's not used to being in the presence of such beauty." Yeah good fucking job Frias. Instead of getting information your first reaction is to flirt. Fucking idiot.

"Oh? Well aren't you the sweet talker. You aren't so bad yourself hot stuff. So you got a name or what handsome?" The gorgeous blonde asked with a sultry smirk as she leaned forward a bit. Purposely exposing more of her glorious cleavage I'm sure.

"Ah yeah. Sorry for not introducing myself. My name is PFC. Efrain Frias. My braindead companion here is PVT. Caleb Newlin." I said offering my hand for a handshake. Keeping my eyes on her face. Never wandering downward. Honestly the toughest task I've ever had to face.

"My name's Yang Xiao-Long. My silent partner is Blake. It's nice to meet you handsome." Yang said as she grasped my hand into a handshake. Then I did something that was utterly stupid. I brought her hands up to my lips and kissed her knuckles. She looked at me utterly shocked with a red blush spreading across her cheeks. I had to admit it was cute. And fuck it I already dug my grave. Might as well dive all in.

"Votre beauté est radieuse madame" I said looking straight into her lovely violet eyes. I took French class in high school. Sue me.

"Ah. Uh. What." Yang sputtered as I released her hand.

"Sorry about that. I got carried away. Me and my friends actually need some help. We are members of the United States Army. If you couldn't tell by our uniforms. I was hoping that you could tell us where we are." I said giving her an out. Honestly for such a beautiful lady she sure is easily flustered.

"United States Army? Is that a militia or something?" Yang asked completely confused. Uh oh. That's not good. Everybody. And I mean everybody knows what the US Army is. You must be clinically brain dead or living under a rock not to know.

"Never mind that. Um would you mind telling us where we are? Obviously we are a bit lost." I asked retaining my calm as I internally freak the fuck out.

"Oh you're right outside of Vale. We are actually in the Emerald forest right now. Right next to Beacon Academy." She said as she walked past us swaying her hips to point at a cliff in the distance.

"Are those actually real or did you get a really good surgery" Newlin asked from right next to me. Unfortunately he said that way too loudly and Yang heard.

The beautiful blonde didn't take too kindly to Newlin's stupidity. Suddenly her hair burst into flames and her eyes turned red. Her bracelets turned into metal things that covered her entire hand.

I could only stare in shock as she burst into flames and started chasing Newlin. Newlin happened to be running right at the other members of our team. "KOPMAN, VOLK RUN THERE'S A PSYCHO DEMON ON FIRE CHASING US!" I could hear him yell in the distance.

Turning over to the silent Brunette I ask her. "Um. Does she normally burst into flames like that?"

"Hell If I know. I just met her a couple minutes ago." The cute brunette said in such a deadpan voice. Honestly she sounded just like my eighth grade English teacher, who obviously had given up in life.

"Should we stop her from killing Newlin?"

"Not my business." She said before walking away towards the ruins. But damn did she look better walking away. That ass was so beautiful it could bring a tear to any man's eye.

Tearing my eyes off her hypnotic ass and long oh so long legs. I look over to see Yang grabbing Newlin by his collar and lifting him with one arm with all his gear on pointing one of her fists at his face.

"Apologize asshole or i'll make you a new asshole to shit out of" She says with an eerie calmness.

"I'm so sorry, please don't give me a new asshole ma'am" Newlin stammers out trying his hardest not to cry. Sheesh man. Man the fuck up Newlin. Looking over towards the rest of the guys they seem pretty shell shocked. I don't blame them. She lifted at least 300 pounds up in the air with one arm.

"That's better! Now where was Mr. Handsome?" She says as her eyes turn back to purple and her hair went back to normal.

"Um. Do you mean me?" I ask as the rest of the guys come to their senses.

"Yep! Now where were we?" She asks in an innocent tone that belayed anything but innocence.

"So we are just going to ignore you tossing around essentially 300 pounds like its nothing?"

"Well I am pretty strong if I do say so myself. What scared of a little muscle?" She said flexing her biceps. I gotta admit she did have rather large biceps. But I could tell none of the idiots behind me were looking at her biceps. Not that I could blame them.

"I'm not scared of a little muscle sweetheart. What does unnerved me is that you lifted so much with ease. While you were on fire? What the hell was that about?" I ask trying not to freak the fuck out.

"Oh that? It's my semblance! Oh where did Blakey go?" She asked looking around.

"Um your friend left for those Ruins over there with the chess pieces." I said pointing over to where the brunette was examining the pieces.

"Oh I need to stick with her! Come on guys follow me! If you are lost then I'm sure we can help lead you to Beacon after we finish with Initiation!" She says before she trots away from us over towards the Ruins. I gotta say. She has a nice ass too.

*ahem*

"Alright boys it seems like we aren't in Kansas anymore. Let's see where this yellow brick road leads us. Keep your ears sharp and your mouths shut. From here on out let me do the talking. We need to figure out what the hell is going on-" "aaaaahhhh" "Is there a little girl screaming in the woods?"

We all turn toward the two ladies by the ruins and see them looking up towards the sky. As we all look up we see a massive black bird with what seems like two blobs hanging off its claws one red and the other white. Suddenly the red blob suddenly starts falling.

"Oh shit that's a little girl!" Volk yells out as we all start running towards where the little red girl was going to go splat on the ground. As we run towards the ruins we spot Yang also running towards the spot yelling, "RUBY?!"

And then like slow motion in perfect timing a guy in armor and a hoodie comes flying through the air crashing into the little girl and leading to them both landing on tree branches in relative safety somehow. With the poor guy somehow hanging upside down talking to the girl in red resting on an apparently huge tree branch.

When suddenly we hear what sounds like a grizzly bear roar followed by a feminine "yeehaw". Then the largest black bear with huge white spikes and white mask came into the clearing and collapsed with a pretty girl with short orange hair, a short pink skirt, what look like pink converse and a pink grenade launcher riding its back complaining about how it's broken.

"I like that girl" Volk says from next to me with all three of us nodding in agreement.

Running into the clearing next to the giant bear is a guy dressed up like a green monk with long black hair and what appeared to be a pink stripe. He looked out of breathing telling the girl "Nora" to never do that again. But somehow she was gone before he could finish and had a rook on her head talking about being a queen of some castle.

"On second thought Volk never stick your dick in crazy" I say in awe of how much energy this girl seemed to have. Looked like speedy González on cocaine. Like really this place is insane.

Yang and Blake looked just as confused talking amongst themselves looking at the girl in confusion.

Then all four of us simultaneously shit ourselves as we saw the biggest Scorpion ever with what seemed like white armor all over it chasing what looked like a Greek goddess of war. We all looked at each other and simultaneously noped and slowly started walking back towards the Humvee. Keeping an eye on the situation and lifting up our guns towards the giant ass scorpion. As we saw the ladies reacting WAY too calmly to a giant fucking scorpion chasing a girl.

Then the little girl jumped off the tree and Yang seemed to lose her shit. Well at least someone is sane because that is some crazy shit. Then all of them except the war goddess getting chased by an actual demon all look up. I had no care for what they were looking at. My eyes were on the demon from hell chasing the war goddess. I couldn't bear to see these guys have to try to survive against that monstrosity. After all we're soldiers. We're supposed to protect the people and fight for them innocent. 

This is no different we can't call ourselves soldiers if we back down from this fight like this because of a stupid thing like fear. I'd refuse to become a coward. After all the shit we lived through this should be nothing. If only we had some artillery to give us a hand.

"Hey Kopman do you think we can take out the scorpion with enough rounds?" I ask as I keep watching the thing chase the redhead.

"Fuck it worth a shot. I doubt we are going to make it out alive if we don't take care of that problem anyways" Kopman fired back switching off the safety on his M4 looking at the rest of the fireteam, "Alright Newlin I want you laying down a constant stream of hate towards that big ugly with your M249 and Volk I want you aiming your grenades towards the feet hopefully that way we can immobilize the target. Frias you're with me lets see how effective these rounds are against big ugly over there."

Out of the corner of our eyes we see an albino girl with a lopsided ponytail and dressed in all white land on top of hoodie guy. We just decide to ignore it and move on. Crazy just seemed to be the normal around these parts. Moving towards the scorpion we see the redhead warrior dive out of the way and land close to the other group of seemingly color coded individuals.

With her out if the way Volk fired a grenade at its legs with extreme effect taking out two of its legs on the right side of its body followed by a blast of bullets from the M249 that seemed to blast through the scorpion with ease. Kopman and I finished off the beast with a mag each to its head. It seemed like our ammunition was extremely effective against this creature. It went down far easier and quicker than I thought it was going to. Especially since that Greek goddess wannabe seemed to struggle with this beast.

As we turn around we see everybody looking at us with awe and wonder.

"What's up bitches that's how the US Army gets shit done!" Volk yells out trying to look like a badass. And to his credit it was badass.

Just as we were going to walk towards the group we see what seemed to be a Osprey look alike take down a the giant bird in the sky and then land down in the clearing close to us. Out of the rear of the VTOL aircraft came out two individuals. One very tall older man with white hair a cane and an all green suit looking like a white version of a pimp and next to him the hottest librarian I have ever seen in my life. God bless me what a wonderful looking woman. The older man calmly walked up to us while taking a sip of what I assumed was coffee.

Taking the sip of coffee he looked us all in the eye and said, "Gentlemen. I understand that you are lost. This is the Beacon Academy initiation. We would appreciate it if you didn't interrupt. We would also like to have a word with you if you will."


	3. The Fool's Bet

"Well no shit. I thought the lucky charms guy was smaller and had red hair", Volk said utterly dumbfounded by the man pimped out in a green suit who calls himself Ozpin.

"Well fuck me four ways to Sunday looks like Saint Patrick's day came early, where's the green beer and the drunk bitches at?" Newlin said coming from behind me and Volk hauling along his M240. With the man in green and the hot librarian looking at us equally confused.

"Alright shut up you retards let me do the talking" Cpl. Kopman states trying to salvage some modicum of professionalism from our stupidity. Walking towards Ozpin with his hand outstretched for a handshake that Ozpin accepts he says, "Well Mr. Ozpin seems like you are the man in charge around here. My name is Corporal Michael Kopman of the United States Army. The group of idiots behind me are my fireteam. The short bastard is PVT. Timothy Volk. The tall big bastard with the machine gun is PFC. Caleb Newlin and the brown bastard is PFC. Efrain Frias. It seems like we have a lot to talk about Mr. Ozpin." Looking over to the sexy librarian she seems to be catatonic for some reason, "Ah I apologize for the language ma'am just a force of habit and well I would apologize for the idiots, but they are a lost cause."

Of course he had to give us some shit. Wouldn't be Kopman if he didn't make us look bad in front of others.

"That we do Corporal we have much to discuss. This is my assistant Glynda Goodwitch." The sexy librarian now named Glynda nods slightly holding what seems to be a tablet tightly against her generous bust.

"Psst. Frias I know those tits are awesome, but don't burn a hole in them" Volk whispers towards me as I snap my face over towards him and my whole face burns up.

"Oh fuck off. Like you weren't checking her out too. She is hot as shit." I whisper back

"Oh Fuck yeah! I was checking that out. Ten bucks I'm hitting that in a week" 

"Fuck off man you would need a step ladder to even hit it from behind. Get out of here with that bullshit. Twenty bucks." 

"Oh fuck yeah I'm getting in on this." Newlin whispers behind us, "20 bucks on Volk failing horribly and 20 on getting lucky myself" 

"Alright I'm doubling up 20 each on both of you failing horribly" I tell them quickly writing down the bets on a piece of map i had in my pouch. "And and extra 40 on neither of you getting lucky for a whole month. Strippers and whores don't count." 

"Fuck it i'll take that bet. 40 I will get lucky and 20 you don't for a whole month" Volks says looking down on my betting sheet.

"I'll take that same bet for myself", Newlin whispers back looking at the sheet.

"Alright let the best man win" I whisper back as we all shake on the gentlemen's agreement

"All right Fuck ups lets get the Humvee loaded up onto this Transport craft they got. We are headed to this combat school they have set up called Beacon. There we will figure out this whole fucked up situation. Let's hop to it and for the love of god act like professionals and not the fuck ups you actually are." Kopman says as he walks over to us, "I don't even want to know what you idiots were agreeing to but for our sake don't embarrass us. Lets get that Humvee in that VTOL."

"What about the ladies we met?" I ask. Genuinely curious about what's going to happen to them.

"Oh the fine ladies will finish whatever they need to do for their initiation to this combat school we are headed to. They'll be fine don't worry about them."

"Alright I guess we are headed to Beacon"


	4. Theories

Flying over the sea of green trees in the distance we see a huge city with modern buildings and cars looking like any American small city. Reminds me of home. Somehow we had gotten the Humvee to fit into the VTOL that, apparently, they called a bullhead for some reason. Not like we can really judge, we have tons of weird names for things. It was a tight fit but we were able to fit the Humvee in. It left Volk trapped in the Humvee though so he couldn't see what we were seeing. He was very vocal in his complaints, but we didn't give a single fuck. The flight was silent between the three of us left outside of the Humvee as we looked outside to see the landscape of this most likely new world,or dimension, we landed ourselves in. Besides the monsters that are apparently normal here it looks very similar to home. Off to the side I see Ozpin and the fine lady Glynda talking amongst themselves looking at a screen. It seemed to be intense and I heard something about a Juniper and Cardinal? I have no idea, but it seemed quite intense. Probably something to do with us or some type of code words.

Kopman had told us that they wanted to have our talks in a secure location. So all we could do was wait until we reached our destination until we could find out anything about our situation and how we were getting home.

That is if there was even any hope of us being able to make it home any more.

"Alright Gentlemen it appears that we have arrived at our location if you would kindly look out the window you will see Beacon Academy", Ozpin says while taking a sip of what I assume is coffee from his mug.

Looking out the window I am blown away to see what is quite possibly the most beautiful and modern looking campus I had ever seen with one impossibly tall tower jutting out of the academy. It seems like this combat school is very well funded. Maybe it was part of the government to train officers. Kind of like a West Point situation, but I guess we'll find out eventually. We slowly start lowering altitude and the slight thud of landing on the ground is felt. The ramp is lowered and we signal for Volk to back the Humvee out of the Bullhead.

As soon as he is fully out of the bullhead, we all exit the bullhead followed by Ozpin and Glynda.

"Gentleman you can park your truck right over there next to the Dorm building. We will figure out where to put it later. Now follow us if you will.", Ozpin says while walking with his pimp cane and drinking his coffee looking like a combo of a leprechaun, a pimp, and Gandalf. Wait that's great Green Gandalf the Pimp! Nah thats stupid. Well regardless of the stupid nickname we follow him and the lady who awakened a sexy librarian fetish I wasn't aware I had. As Volk jogs over to us I see that all of us are looking at the same thing as we walk. That ass. Can you blame us we haven't seen a proper lady in 6 months that wasn't covered head to toe. At least we all kept looking until Newlin tripped over a bump and his face got intimate with the sidewalk.

"Wow you can't even walk straight Newlin how did you even pass the ASVAB? Who's dick did you suck for the 20 extra percentage you need to get in?" Kopman states while trying not to bust a gut laughing. While i'm dying laughing holding onto a light pole and Tim is leaning against the building holding himself up as he laughs his ass off.

"Alright get the fuck up Newlin and try not to make yourself look like more of a complete and utter idiot than you already do on a daily basis." Kopman says.

Looking over at Ozpin and Glynda looking at us like a zoo exhibit. Can't really blame them. Us, grunts, are a strange breed of people. That's what makes us the best.

With Newlin finally getting up we all nod at the two to go ahead and lead us onward. With slight hesitation they continue to walk towards the dorm. We all follow with us only taking slight glances at the promise land. Eventually we make our ways to the elevator and somehow all six of us fit inside of the elevator even with all of our gear although we left our packs in the humvee. Obviously. Still left an awkward ride up that seemed to last forever with that god awful elevator music playing. Nobody making eye contact because who make eye contact on an elevator? Psychos that's who.

Finally after an eternity we finally make it to the top of the tower. Getting out of the elevator we walk into what is possibly the most amazing fucking office I had ever seen. Straight out of a Steampunk wet dream with clocks being the main them. It is actually quite beautiful. While I'm checking out the decor Ozpin walks over to his office and sits down in his chair while Glynda hangs back and stands behind him to the left tapping away at a screen.

"Well Gentleman it seems like we have much to discuss. Especially considering the way in which you all arrived here. We have footage of you all arriving to the emerald forest via what looks like a rip in space. Would you have any Idea about how that happened?", Ozpin asks as he looks at us while showing video of a black tear in space with us shooting out of it in the humvee and coming to a stop with the tear slowly stitching itself back up after us. "You know that wasn't the only black tear to occur here. It appears two other such tears occurred on our campus. One that left a bunch of wooden crates and another one that left various barrels that contain a flammable liquid." Showing us pictures via hologram….wait holy shit they have holograms?.. Calm down you are a professional freak out on the inside only, "Do these look like anything you are familiar with?"

"Yeah those Crates carry four ammo cans each. There seem to be 12 crates. That's a ton of ammo and the barrels are probably filled with fuel we use to for the truck we have" Cpl. Kopman says, "And we have no idea how we got here and have no idea what those black tears were about. Last we remember was running a patrol through Helmand Province, Afghanistan and then an explosion. Next thing we knew we woke up here. My best guess. Seeing as it was probably a tear in time/space. Then either we are in another world, another dimension, or either in the distant past or the distant future"

"Well then that leaves us at a quandary of what to do with you. It seems that you are from another world. Well I am assuming you gentlemen are from another world. If I'm right considering your weapons and armor are unlike any we have and your patches don't seem familiar to me. Doesn't help that this Afghanistan does not exist on this planet. However I will not dismiss the fact that maybe this is indeed another dimension. The time traveling aspect seems way too far fetched."

"Really? Time travel is what seems to be far fetched? If anything that's what makes most sense to me. Our scientist proved that time travel is theoretically possible. Since you can travel to the future if you fly close enough to a black hole. Maybe something crazy happened and our scientists back home figured it out, but created various tears throughout our planet launching us into the far future. Because this does look like a possible post- nuclear holocaust future. With the Grimm being the possible results of radiation exposure. Like fallout!" Kopman presented his theory to the astonishment of both Ozpin and Glynda.

"Stop being such a smartass Kopman. We get it you watched TED talks on your free time." Newlin stated stepping up and clapping him on the shoulder. "But all jokes aside. I have to agree with Kopman. It's most likely that we are from another dimension or the distant past. Because the odds that another separate human species evolved in the same manner as us, on a different planet, in the exact same manner. Not only evolving to speak the same language, but to have the same cultural norms. Seen by Frias flirting with one of your students. Well the possibilities of that happening on another planet far removed from ours is zilch. On the other hand. Us being from the past or a different dimension is much more likely. Especially when you take into account that there are probably millions of different alternate realities of every possible outcome. Maybe our timelines simply separated at an earlier date. And Kopman explained how the Time Travel theory is possible. Simply put, the chances of us actually being aliens is near to none. Most likely this is just a separate dimension of earth. Or earth in the future. Making us quite possibly your ancestors. Except it wouldn't cuz none of us left kids behind as far as I know." Newlin said with a slight chuckle at the end.

"Well regardless of where you came from. We still have to figure out what to do with you. I assume you all would like to get home, but sadly we don't have scientist devoted to such theories as your society did. So it would be best to assume that you are all stuck here for the time being. So I would like to ask what it was you were doing in this Afghanistan since it seem like you are soldiers. We could always use fighters. After all that fight with that Deathstalker was quite efficient and precise if I do say so myself."

"Well Sir we were in Afghanistan fighting a war against three terrorist groups; The Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State. We are members of the 82nd Airborne Division our motto is "Death from Above" we rain down pure hell and hate upon our enemy. Eliminating Insurgents is our specialty."

"Well then Corporal I think that you and your team are just what we were looking for. You see we have a terrorist issue ourselves. Well before that I think I must go over some of the basics when it comes to this planet. First off there are two species of sentient life on this planet. I don't know if its similar where you come from."

"No sir. We only have one species of sentient life on Earth. We call ourselves humans. If anything this validates the alternate dimension or post nuclear holocaust theory."

"Ah how interesting we also call ourselves humans. The other sentient species are called faunus they are just like humans except they all have at least one animal characteristic like ears or tail for example."

"So cat girls exist here is what you are saying. My money's so on post-nuclear holocaust right now." Corporal Kopman says with a little bit more excitement than expected.

"Yes you can say that is true. There are 'cat girls' here. Will that be a problem for you and your men corporal? We highly discourage racism here." Ozpin said completely ignoring Kopman's little tangent.

"Oh not at all we don't mind whatsoever right boys?"

"Nope"

"Nah"

"Cool with me"

"Alright that's good to hear gentlemen. Glad we can get that issue out of the way especially since some of the students attending this Academy are Faunas. Sadly racism is highly present here on this planet between Humans and Faunas"

"What do you mean sir? Are Faunas racist against us sir because they are like us with additional parts?"

"No quite the opposite actually it's humans who are the racists in most situations. Of course it goes both ways sometimes it led to a war between the two species. However now we technically have a equality laws but certain groups don't feel that there is equality. From this some disgruntled extremist faunus have taken to terrorism to get their point across and we fear they may be plotting to start a new war."

"I see. Seems like this place is a lot more like home than I would like to think"

"Moving on we have four kingdoms. Currently you are in the Kingdom of Vale, the others as you see on this map", He pulls up a map hologram that shows the planet and the extremely weirdly shaped continents "We have the kingdom of Vacuo next to us on the same continent. On the continent to the east of us we have the Kingdom of Mistral. Then to the north is the Kingdom of Atlas. Atlas is the only Kingdom with an active military. All of the kingdoms use Huntsman and Huntress that we train at academies such as this one. They fight the creatures of grimm to protect the civilians living in the kingdoms. The creatures of grimm are the black creatures you have seen with white plating. We know not where they came from, but all they desire is to consume Humans and Faunas. Thanks to this threat we have been able to unite and keep the peace between the kingdoms. However this leaves us woefully weak against attacks from fighters. Unless we call in Atlas and trust me gentlemen we do not want that."

"Alright so if I get this straight you basically want us to fight against this terrorist group because you became complacent against the possibility of another war? And yep that's nothing like our earth. Maybe alternate dimension?"

"I wouldn't be so crude in my request, but yes essentially I want to use you instead of having to rely on a foreign power or my students. We would pay you a salary, provide clothing, food, and other amenities in exchange for your service. Granted we wouldn't be able to make you a public force and we certainly can't say you came from another world. Or whatever you believe you came from. So I will use our sources to create a fake identification and fake background story so that you can assimilate and build a life here. However for this to work and not arise suspicion I will need you to pose as a new freshman group. Essentially I ask you to attend my academy and fight these terrorists and it will work well since you all appear quite young and would be able to pass as 18 or 19 with little question. So what do you say? Are the terms agreeable?"

Looking over to us Kopman gives us a looking asking if we agree. All of us nod our heads hesitantly. If we weren't getting home might as well join the guys that can keep us fed and sheltered in exchange for our services.

"Okay we agree. But we will never bow or swear our loyalties. We are only loyal to our flag not the kingdom of Vale."

"That's agreeable Mr. Kopman. Welcome to Beacon Team METC (Metallic)" Ozpin says as he shakes Kopman's hand with a grin that unsettles me greatly, "Now we just need to unlock your Auras!"

"Our what now?"


	5. What's an Aura

"Your Auras. I am assuming you all have souls. Thus unlocking your soul creates an energy that our huntsman can use to protect themselves and increase their physical abilities. This also unlocks the potential for semblances that are unique to each person. Consider it a special ability that each huntsman is capable of. Such as extreme speed or cloning." Ozpin states

"Yeah bitch! We up in this shit getting superpowers! Let's do this shit!" Volk screams out like a little kid jumping up and down. I can't blame him I am equally as excited to get these super powers.

"Well I wouldn't call them superpowers, but they can be incredible. I can sense a soul in each of you but it seems different from what we have here on Remnant." Ozpin says as he takes another sip from that seemingly never ending mug of coffee, "Now Glynda if you would unlock their Auras so we can get these gentlemen down to the arena for the team naming ceremony"

"Certainly," Glynda says as she start walking towards us. Wait she's walking right towards me right towards me. Am I the first one to get superpowers? Fuck yeah. Wait. He never told me how they unlock the power. Wait she's getting awfully close and wow she's taller than I thought we are both eye level with each other. Wait is she going to kiss me? Is that how this works because if so fuck yeah! Glynda looks me straight in the eye and tells me, "Stay still and close your eyes"

I close my eyes and I feel something cold but so soft against my cheek and a slight pressure against my chest. Well I guess I won't be getting that kiss, but I can't complain. I'm getting fucking superpowers! Slowly I feel something crawling under my skin along the whole length of my body. It a weird sensation but its not bad. It feels like power like I can take a Grizzly bear on in a wrestling match. It feels like the power wants to leave my body, but it doesn't. Like it's stuck in my skin. After a while Glynda steps away from me. I guess thats it I'm a superhuman now!

"Ozpin something is wrong.", Glynda says looking at me in a very confused manner.

"Wait! What do you mean something is wrong? Am I going to die?", I ask trying my hardest not to panic.

"No Mr. Frias. I doubt you will be dying this day. It seems like your aura is non existent but there is a power that was unleashed from your soul. Do you feel any different?"

"Yeah I feel much stronger right now and I feel like I can take on anything right now."

"Hm interesting. We'll take all of you down to the nurse to get some blood samples and other diagnostics to see what differences your bodies have from ours. Let's finish unlocking all of your souls just an incase you are an isolated incident. Glynda if you would."

Glynda moved over to Kopman and did the same with a purple glow coming off of her as she touched him which utterly fascinated me. It was actually quite beautiful and mesmerizing. It seemed that the same happened to Kopman that happened to me as she shook her head looking towards Ozpin as Ozpin looked at us with increased interest. She then moved over towards Newlin and Volk repeating the same process and getting the same results.

Ozpin gets up and walks towards us, "Well gentlemen I believe it is time for us to head down towards the medical station to see if we can take some samples and run some test so we can figure out what exactly it is we unlocked and what the differences between our humanities are. Well. Shall we?" He says while walking towards the elevator while continuing to sip his somehow not empty coffee mug. Seriously is that his superpower? Never ending caffeinated beverages? That would be lame but useful for someone like him I guess. Welp looks like we have another uncomfortable ride down this elevator.

One long ass and uncomfortable ride down the elevator and a long walk through a surprisingly still empty campus we finally made it to the Medical station.

"Welcome gentleman to the Medical Station. I do hope none of you end up visiting this particular part of our prestigious academy on a frequent basis. Inside you'll meet Professor Peach, she will be performing all necessary medical examinations that will be needed. Now if you excuse me and Glynda we will be leaving you gentlemen here, we have to finish finalizing some paperwork and preparing for the Team naming ceremony. Professor Peach will be leading you lot to the Arena for the ceremony after your Medical exams. Have a good day Gentlemen I will see you lot at the ceremony." With that said Ozpin turns around walking away with Glynda following him closely.

"Well boys I guess it's time to get these exams over with. Hopefully it isn't like MEPS. That was a pain in the ass." Kopman says as he opens up the door and walks in and suddenly stops dead in his tracks.

Wondering why he stopped in his tracks the rest of us pushed him further into the Station. Then we here the softest most harmonious voice we ever heard, "Well hello Gentlemen you must be the other worlders that Goodwitch messaged be about. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Standing there in a tight doctors coat in a light pink blouse and tight mini skirt with long heeled boots going up her long legs almost all the way to her mini skirt is one of the prettiest and petite women I have ever seen. This world most be blessed with beautiful women. Her tan skin nicely contrasts her light pink hair that up in a bun with two bangs of hair framing her heart shaped face nicely with a cute button nose and kind pink colored eyes. Oh shit boys I think I'm in love.


	6. Hot and Bothered

"Well gentleman, My name is Mallaurie Peach. I am a professor here at Beacon Academy and will be performing a medical evaluation on you today. I will also be your professor here so I would appreciate it if you would refer to me as Professor Peach in class and in front of other students. Now which of you would like to go first?" She says with an absolutely angelic smile that brings butterflies to my stomach. Wait did she just ask for a volunteer? Oh hell yeah this is my chance! Quick say something smooth!

"I volunteer as tribute!" Fuck. That's not what I meant to say! Great now all the guys are laughing, while Mallaurie is giggling softly to herself. Wow why is her giggle so cute. Ah fuck. I got it bad I'm so fucked.

"Well someone seems excited! Follow me to the examination room." Peach says while giggling to herself some more.

As we walk I take a quick look at her long legs that lead to a nice round behind. Very nice. But focus! Don't get caught looking at her ass and don't make an even bigger fool of myself. She leads me into a room that looks exactly like any doctors office you would see back on Earth.

"Okay before we start Im going to need some basic information to start my file on you. Please sit on the bed right there." She says while she turns around and bends down to grab some papers. Oh god does she even know what she's doing to me? Okay don't focus on her ass. Don't be a creep. Focus man focus. Head in the game. Okay good she turned around and didn't seem to notice anything. She brings over a chair to sit down next to me and god dammit now I have a perfect view down her blouse. Shit she really is being a tease isn't she. Wait no its not on purpose she's being extremely professional up to this point. It's all on accident. Yep just an accident. She doesn't know what she is doing to me. Just maintain eye contact man. She has pretty eyes it should be that hard. After all how often are you going to see pink eyes? And why am I even panicking? I flirted with that Yang girl flawlessly. Maybe it's the mature confidence radiating off her. Or maybe it's the fact that she looks like a goddess.

"Alright now to start my files I am going to need some basic information. Okay to start off what's your name?"

"My Name is Efrain Frias ma'am"

"Well that's an interesting name. Would you mind spelling it for me dear?" She says with such a sweet smile. Oh fuck me why is she so pretty.

"U-um its E-f-r-a-i-n then last name is F-r-i-a-s ma'am" Damnit did I just stutter? What the fuck am I a middle schooler? Fucking pull it together man grow a pair and be a man!

"Thank you dear and you don't have to be so polite calling me ma'am I doubt I'm much older than you and if what Ozpin says is right we will might be working closely in the future so free feel to call me Mallaurie" She tells me all the while giving a beautiful smile. Yep still being a middle schooler. Is it hot in here? Do they not have Air conditioning?"

"Sure Mallaurie um you can just call me Efrain" Oh god she's giggling. Why is this so torturous but I don't want this to stop anytime soon.

"Ok Efrain now I would ask how old you are. But I'm not sure if the length of our years is the same on both planets. It would be foolish to assume they are both the same. So i'll just put you down as being 18 years old for the sake of the files. And i'll give you a random birthday. Let's see how about Harvest 3rd. That will do. Alright now we just need to get your height and weight. Just step over to the machine and stay still."

She leads me over this this machine that looks like a scale that was built into the floor. I step onto it and a hologram box with two numbers.

"Alright so 188 cm and 193 kg. You can step off the machine now. You certainly don't look that heavy. I'll attribute it to higher muscle and bone density." She says as she marks it down taking a look at me up and down in amazement. Well fuck looks like they use the fucking metric system. Of course they fucking would. And holy fucking shit! I weigh how fucking much? What the actual literal fuck? That about how much I weigh in pounds!

"Okay Efrain if you would take off your shirt and sit down on the bed that would be great." Ah fuck damn I wish I could do a few push ups right now, Damnit. Well I hope she likes tattoos. I take off my Weapons, Vest, and ACU Jacket to reveal my sweat soaked blouse underneath. Dammit well that isn't good. Fucking horrible first impression. All sweaty and shit. Well I quickly take off the sweat soaked shirt revealing my three tattoos, my dog tags, and my sweaty body to the fresh air. That actually felt really good. I didn't realize how hot I was getting. Then I take one look over at Mallaurie and I see her looking my body up and down like someone looking for something off. Well I guess it makes sense. I'm an 'Alien' so it would make sense for her to be looking for differences.

"Efrain what's the purpose of this necklace that you have on? It seems to have writing on it." She says as she walks up to me and grabs my dog tags her cold fingers briefly scraping across my chest. Oh god now her fingers are sweaty. Wait I don't thinks she's noticed and why isn't she wearing gloves? Why isn't she wearing gloves. Wait that's not important right now she asked a question. Focus on answering that.

"Ah those are my dogtags ma'am um I mean Mallaurie" as she gives me a dark look out of nowhere when I say ma'am, quickly falling back to a gentle smile when I call her Mallaurie. Okay note to self she does not like me calling her ma'am. I wonder why, "They are meant to be used to identify my body if I die and to keep track of who has fallen in combat" She frowns after hearing that. Oh I don't like seeing her frown it doesn't feel right to see her frown. Fuck I'm head over heels for this lady aren't I?

"That's rather morbid. That must mean that you have been fighting in situations where mass casualties are common." She grabs my bicep and squeezes. Oh god did it just get really fucking hot in here. And am I flexing my bicep? Yes. Yes I am, "I am so sorry you had to go through something like that. But I must say. Your muscles feel like they are made out of steel. That is rather strange. Another difference between our species." She says as she looks into my eyes as she continues to massage my biceps. Oh god and now I'm getting lost in her eyes. Wait is she going to lean in for a kiss? Should I lean in? Just as i think that she pulls away.

"Tell me about your Tattoos? Do they have some symbolic meaning? Are they meant for identification purposes? Or is it a cultural thing?" She says as she runs her fingers over the tattoo only my right shoulder. She still isn't wearing gloves! And why isn't she bothered by the sweat? Is that normal here? Ah she's looking really intensely at my tattoo on my right shoulder. Okay might as well explain them. Man up. No stuttering. Professionalism. You can face a drill sergeant then you can face a pretty woman.

"Ah it's a cultural thing. Not for any other purposes. The one you are touching right now is The Mexican Eagle with a snake in its mouth in a tribal style (AN: Google mexican eagle tribal for image) . It's meant to symbolize my heritage and the nation of my parents. The tattoo over my heart is of the Iwo Jima Flag raisers is a nod of respect towards my forefathers that fought against tyranny and gave the ultimate sacrifice (AN I think everybody knows what that looks like). And my final tattoo on my ribs is a supposed to look like torn flesh with the American flag underneath it to show that I am bleed Red white and blue the colors of the nation I fight for. Well I should say fought for. (AN Google torn skin flag tattoo for image)"

"Ah I see so all these tattoos have personal meaning to you and help represent yourself" She says as she runs her hands over all my tattoos looking at each one intensely. My God she has no idea what she is doing to me right now. She has my heart racing more than any strip club or ex girlfriend by doing so little. Fuck me. No literally please do.

"Well I suppose we have to hurry this along we don't want to be late to the Team naming ceremony. I just need to listen to your heart, lungs, draw some blood and run a full body scan." She turns around to grab her stethoscope and it takes all my willpower to not look at her ass while she does so. She grabs it turns around and walks towards me, "Okay I just need you to relax and breath normally. Fair warning this is going to be cold" She puts the cold stethoscope down on my pec right over my tattoo and places her other hand on my other pec. Wait why is she doing that? Is she actually legitimately teasing me or is she just doing something with her semblance? I'm so fucking confused.

"Well your heart doesn't sound any different than ours and besides it beating faster than ours do it seems healthy. I'll just assume the speed is just a difference in species" Yeah let's go with that. I don't the she even believes the words she's saying. I think she knows exactly what she's doing to me and is getting a laugh out of it! Or maybe she's interested! Okay calm down prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Lets just assume it's been solely professional I'll be getting many more chances to get to know her more soon enough.

"Okay now I'm going to listen to your lungs" She says as she walks around me and sits behind me putting bare hand on my back, "I just need you to bend over just a bit so I can listen to your lungs.", I do so trying to ignore her hands running up and down my back, "Okay perfect. Now I'm going to need you to give a big breath in and out when i say now okay?"

"Got it" I say as i feel her put the cold stethoscope on my back. She then asks me to do so and she switches over and repeats the process on the other side of my back. "Okay seems like you have strong lungs, but no different than ours. Okay now we just need to to take a blood sample and then run a full body scan then we will be done for today. I hope you aren't scared of needles.", She says as she grabs a tourniquet, a syringe, and a bundle of vials. She walks over grabs my arm and applies the tourniquet nice and tight getting my veins to be visible on my forearm. "Okay dear now I'm going to insert the needle. You will feel a slight pinch" She says as she tries to insert the needle into my vein. When I say try I mean try because the needle broke when she tried to push it past my skin, "That shouldn't be possible. These needles are designed to penetrate aura. Let me try again."

So she did she tried four more times, trying with more and more force each time. But her needle just couldn't get past my skin.

"Okay let's just do the full body scan we can try to get a blood sample another day." She says obviously annoyed by the fact that she couldn't get a blood sample. Well sorry that apparently my skin is too tough. That's actually the first time that ever happened to me. Maybe whatever Glynda did to me caused my skin to become impenetrable.

"Okay just lay down fully on the bed and stay completely still as the bed will scan your whole body and maybe we'll find out just why we can't get any blood." She says getting my attention. Alright I guess this is some futuristic medical technology. Like that shit from the movie Elysium that I watched a while ago. Well let's sit as still as humanly possible so we don't fuck up any of this undoubtedly expensive equipment.

"Okay it should only take a minute. Close your eyes so none of the light from the scan harms them." She says as she walks away and out of the room leaving me by myself on this hard bed with this strange humming noise. I wonder what the machine will find, maybe my superpower is being unkillable. Like deadpool! I would be an awesome deadpool. You know just without the fucked up face. Just when I'm imagining myself in red spandex with twin katanas Mallaurie speaks up, "Alright your scans are done feel free to get back up and open your eyes. Let's take a look at your scans shall we?" She says as I get back up while she is tapping away at a tablet looking screen.

"Hey can I put my shirt back on now? Or do you need to run more tests?" As I say that she looks up at me for a couple of seconds before seemingly deliberating it in her mind.

"Ah. Yeah you can put your clothes back on. Now let's see what the scans show." As she says this I pull on my sweaty nasty shirt back over my body and shrug my jacket back on then slowly strapping my vest back on, "Wow this is amazing! According to these scans your skin is 10x denser than normal skin, your muscles are extremely dense and your bones are extremely dense. It's almost like your body is made to take punishment. Wow if this is accurate then you will be able to take a lot of damage and keep on fighting. Obviously you're not invincible and can still be killed, but you will be tougher to put down for most aura users. Speaking of Aura you seem to not have any. There is no Aura readings coming off of your body. Ozpin and Glynda need to know about this immediately. If all of you are like this then you will be an extremely effective in your anti-terrorist missions!" She says while looking at me in pure awe. Well looks like I'm a fucking tank now. That's pretty fucking awesome, "Okay dear go outside and bring the next person in. I'll hurry it along in order for us to get to the Team naming ceremony on time!" She says in panic as I guess she forgot she was on a time limit to get us to the ceremony on time. Man I really don't want to go, but we do have a time limit.

"Alright I'll bring the next person in" I say as I exit the room with one quick look back before I leave I see her looking at me. Wait is she looking at my ass? And is that a slight blush on her cheeks? Fuck yea! I got a chance. Hell fucking yeah! The man is in the game! And then I leave to see the rest of the guys waiting in the hallway with a bored face until they see me and my goofy ass smile.

"Holy shit Frias you look like you just fucked a hooker. Did she need to take a sperm sample? Because if so then hell fucking yeah I call next!" Volk says looking like Christmas came early.

"Nothing happened man just a normal exam. Just with a hot ass medic." I say trying to keep calm.

"Oh shit! Frias has a crush!" Newlin says as all three of the idiots start breaking down laughing.

"You go for the petite doctor instead of the busty teacher? What the fuck is wrong with you Frias?" Kopman gets out as he tries to recollect himself, "Well I can't blame you she is very pretty, but come on man you're surrounded by tens and you go for the eight. Such a disappointment."

"Ah fuck off guys one of you guys has to go next so get to it." I say trying to keep calm and not whoop someone's ass.

"Okay okay I'll go" Kopman says as he finally gets himself under control as the other idiots are still on the floor dying of laughter. When he goes in the other idiots finally get themselves together. But the next five minutes are of them looking at me and trying not to laugh. Finally after those five minutes Kopman comes back out and Volk goes in. He takes another 5 minutes and then Newlin is last taking around the same amount of time. The whole time all the idiots are just staring at me and giggling like little schoolgirls. Finally I crack "Okay idiots are you telling me you weren't slightly turned on when she felt up your muscles and looked at your shirtless body?" I demand. And then they look at me with owl eyes.

"Wait shirtless? She told us to keep our shirts on! Oh shit Frias might have something here. I take it all back good job my man!" Kopman says slapping my back which I barely felt with the vest on. Well damn that makes me feeling fucking awesome. But damn if what they are saying is true I gotta play this cool. I gotta be smooth. Fuck that's going to be easier said than done I'll tell you that. My train of thought is stopped as Newlin stepped out of the room with Mallaurie right behind him looking at her tablet, "Well gentlemen it seems like you all have the same structure that essentially makes you heavy hitters and being able to take some hits. You'll be quite the team. Now if you follow me we need to get to the Arena soon for the Team naming Ceremony." As we follow I'm walking behind her and I can't help but notice she's swaying her hips quite a bit more than originally and it really does wonders for her ass. God I love this world so fucking much.


	7. Gifts

"Okay Gentlemen here is the Arena. Enter in through these doors and join the group of individuals standing in front of the Stage. They have already started so I ask that you be quiet as you make your way to the group by the stage. After the ceremony meet up with Goodwitch she will assist you from there. Now have a good day gentlemen I will see you lot tomorrow in class!" Mallaurie says as she waves goodbye to us with a swing to her hips that drives me absolutely crazy.

"Hey Frias! Eyes front and center I need you to pay attention!" Kopman says as he wacks me in the arm.

"Yeah I copy Cpl.", I say as I rub my arm. I guess we can still hurt each other even with this tank like ability.

"Alright good. Now here's the situation we are representing the US Army here even if they don't know it. So be professional. Fall in. Walk in like you own this shit. Now I don't know what to expect, but when we get in there we will be standing. I want you boys at parade rest at all times when not in motion. Copy?" Kopman asks looking at each of us in the eyes with all the seriousness of a CO.

"Yes Cpl." We all say in unison which Kopman nods his head at.

"Alright good shit now fall in and follow me. Keep it quiet and classy. Tracking?"

"Tracking Cpl." We say in unison one final time.

"Okay let's do this shit!" Kopman says as he leads the way into the Arena. It's dark in here with the only light coming from the stage and up in the stands where I can see some light from what I assume are phones. We follow Kopman up towards the edge of the group accumulated in front of the stage. He stops just at the edge of the group and we file out into a line to the left and right of him with Volk going left and me going to the right with Newlin going to the right of me and in unison we assume the Parade rest position. Nobody seemed to have noticed us at all. Perfect.

"Now onto the Stage Russell Thrush, Cardin Winchester, Dove Bronzewing, and Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal) Led by Cardin Winchester." Ozpin says over the loudspeakers.

As he says that I can't help but shake my head at their stupid names and their half assed attempts at what I assume was a parade rest. Trying to act like soldiers. I bet those boys never struggled a day in their lives. They never had to withstand never-ending mortar attacks. Spending hours never knowing if the next second would be their last. They never had to deal with patrols where you couldn't even trust the ANA to guard your back. Hell half the time you have to check your six just to make sure the fucker doesn't shoot you in the back. They don't look like soldiers. They look like a bunch of tools and idiots. Pathetic. They would be the first to die in real combat.

Ozpin's voice snaps me back to reality "Now Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook piece. From this day forward you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper) Led by Jaune Arc. Congratulations young man." Man poor guy so weak getting knocked out by that knock out red headed greek goddess. Seriously. Is every woman here beautiful? There is no way every woman should be this hot. Maybe it's a huntress thing. And ah there's speedy gonzalez on crack cocaine. Oh poor asian dude. Seems like both those poor guys are gonna have a hellish life on that team. Maybe we should help the brothers out a little. I'll bring it up later.

"Next we have Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao-Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight piece. From this day forward you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby) Led by Ruby Rose." Oh boy the girl in white does not look happy about the kid getting picked leader. But Yang seems really excited. Gotta love her jumping up and down in excitement. It does wonders for her. Um. Assets.

Oh it seems Glynda is calling us over to the side of the stage. We fall back into line and follow Kopman to the stage. As he calls our names we walk on to the stage in a perfect line walk into formation and in rhythm stand at parade rest at the same time. I can hear mumbling from the crowd as we do this.

"Finally we have Timothy Volk, Caleb Newlin, Micheal Kopman, and Efrain Frias. The Four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team METC (Metallic) Led by Michael Kopman." As he says that Kopman steps out of formation and shakes Ozpin's hand. As he does this Ozpin says, "Looks like this things are shaping up to be an interesting year." Looking at all four of us. As he says this the stage lights dim and the arena lights turn on and everybody starts to leave with some of them giving us curious looks as they walk away. Except for the eight that we met out in the forest. They are standing stark still as if they had seen a ghost.

"Gentlemen if you could follow me I need to help you get situated with scrolls and other matters." Glynda says as she starts to walk away from the stage and towards the exit. The eight look like they want to follow but one look from Glynda ends any attempts in its tracks. We quickly follow Glynda out of the arena with all of us sneaking a few more looks towards that shapely rear.

She leads us out of the building and towards the parked Humvee outside.

"I figured you would like to gather up your supplies before we headed to your dorm room"

"Thank you we appreciate that very much Glynda" Kopman says with what looks like an attempt at a smile. Well while Kopman tries and fails at flirting the rest of us gather up the supplies we had on us and loaded ourselves up. Kopman stops his attempts and gathers his own gear and we all start to follow Glynda back towards campus.

As soon as we are a fair distance away from the Humvee Glynda stops in her tracks and brings out 4 phones shaped object out of seemingly nowhere. Better to not question it. She hands each one of us one of the rectangles.

"Alright gentlemen this is a scroll. It is used to make phone calls, send text messages, emails, access the CCT, keep track of aura levels, and open your dorm room"

"Oh we had something like this back home that did the same except for the aura thing and the room thing"

"Well that's going to make this all much easier. Especially since the aura app is now useless since none of you have an aura. However to open your rooms all you have to do is wave your scroll at the lock and it will unlock your room. Now let me just quickly explain how to start up the scroll" She quickly teaches how to unlock the scroll and set it up to a fingerprint lock. After that she just helps us set up the scroll. Then we play around with the scrolls and find them to work just like a more advanced and fancy smartphone with fancy features like becoming a controller to play video games which is pretty awesome.

"Okay gentlemen since you are a very late new addition to our roster we haven't been able to order uniforms for you, but they should be available to you later in the week. For now consider the dress code waived until we can get that to you. There was clothing with the crates we found at one of the tears that we brought to your rooms. All the crates are in your new room waiting for you. We left the barrels of fuel in storage since we didn't want that flammable substance in a dorm room. I hope you understand."

"No by all means that's perfect. We wouldn't want fuel in our room either. But thank you so much for bringing all that supplies to our room." Kopman replies in what has to be the nicest non-douchebag voice I have ever heard come out of him. Seems like someone wants to try to get lucky with the Professor.

"No thanks are necessary Corporal. We have also left personal hygiene equipment in your bathrooms so that you have everything you need. If there is anything else you need please feel free to ask. Now gentlemen I believe this is your dorm room. Have a good night and be ready for class at 9am. Breakfast is served at the cafeteria from 730- 845am. I hope to see you all tomorrow."

Glynda says with a wave and a nod goodbye as she starts to walk away.

"Have a good night!" Kopman says all the while staring at her ass as she walks away, "Alright boys lets see what kind of dorm we got ourselves."

With a wave of his scroll the door unlocks and we let ourselves in to the room. Immediately we see four pristine beds pushed together on one side of the room on the other side we have 12 crates and 3 big black bags that I don't remember seeing in the video recording but i'm not going to question it. More supplies is always a good thing. Unless it's veggie omelette MRE's I always hated those never understood why Newlin loves them.

"Alright boys lets open up the goodie bags and see what's inside!" Kopman says as he tosses his stuff and his helmet to the side heading towards one of the wooden crates looking like the kids on christmas. I chose to head for the black bags and see what's inside them. The first bag seems to be splitting at the seams with how packed it is. I open it up to see a bunch of clothes and under wear. Enough underwear for each of us for a week. And one pair of combat shorts each. Very nice. Then we got 12 Army blouses all in medium. Seems like it's going to be a tight fit for me and Newlin. Then we got 12 pairs of ACU pants and then 3 Pairs of ACUs for each of us with our names ranks and patches all correct including our sizes. The pants are in the correct sizes too. At least I assume they are for the other guys. Creepy how all of what we need specifically for ourselves appears. I think the big man upstairs wants us to do something special on this planet. Oh shit no way at the bottom of the bag are four brand new Ballistic camo shirts. Fuck yeah these look awesome. I know what I'm wearing tomorrow.

"Hey guys! We got fucking BCS! This shit isn't even available yet! And somehow God gave it to us!" Everybody drops what they are doing and rushes over to me and grabs their BCS. There is a unilateral agreement that we will be rockin them tomorrow. With that squared away everybody grabs their clothing and puts it on their bed. I'm the leftmost with Volk to the right of me followed by Newlin with Kopman being on the other end. But with how the beds are spaced out it looks like one massive bed.

With that figured out they get back to opening the crates and I move on to the next bag which looks more like a case. It about as long as Volk is tall. I open it up to find the most beautiful gun in existence in terms of pure range. The Barrett M107. I am one lucky son of a bitch. Being the designated Marksman I'm pretty damn sure that means this beauty is now mine. Further down in the case I find six smaller cases. I open them up to find three Beretta M9s and three Sig Sauer P320 M17s. I call dibs on one of the M9s. I don't have full trust in the M17s quite yet. I heard mixed reviews. Might as well stick with what I know. Strange that we would get six when there are four of us. Does he want someone to dual wield because that would be awesome but horribly inefficient for ammo conservation. Life isn't like a movie we can't spray and pray. Every bullet counts.

Then we get to the last bag. I open it up to find suppressors, NGVs, infrared scopes, and face paint. Basically what we would need for a night operation. Very nice. Looking over to the guys i see they finished opening up all the crates and were busy organizing it into piles and counting what they got.

"What's it look like we got corporal?" I ask curious since it looked like he was finishing up tallying up a rough estimate.

"Well we got 32 Ammo cans of 5.56 ammo. Each of these 50 cal cans holds roughly 1200 bullets so we are looking at little under 39 thousand rounds of ammo. Then we had 2 cans of 50 Cal ammo so we have roughly 200 rounds for your Light Fifty cal over there. Then we had 6 cans of 9mm ammo which each hold roughly 2000 bullets so we got about 12 thousand rounds of 9mm ammo. One crate held 60 M67 Frag grenades. And the last crate had 250 or so 40x46 mm grenades for Volk's launcher and about 200 more M84 stun grenades. So I think we are pretty fucking set. Now let's set all this shit up and get the beds in the right places toss the crates in the closet for now. And let's all take showers I know its been awhile since you nasty assholes have been even near soap. So let's get to it and get some shut eye. Even if we are on a different planet it doesn't mean PT doesn't exist we need to keep ourselves in tip top shape in order to take the fight to the enemy and breathe fire down their throats. So I'll set the Alarm for 0430. Home sweet home, huh boys"


	8. Cadence Calls

"Contact left! Contact left!" Kopman yelled out. Unleashing a stream of bullets in that general direction. The ambush had come out of nowhere. I was asleep when the whistling of mortars woke me up. I guess it was all a dream after all. I'm still in this hell hole. Mortars rained around our FOB. None of them being accurate, but it only takes one lucky shot. I run out to help defend our position. Not even having time to put my clothes on. Simply throwing on my plate carrier and kevlar helmet. I ran to the barrier and started laying down fire in their general direction. I could barely make out targets in the dark. Somebody tosses out some flares and it helps.

"Ah shit! It's just a diversion! Take cover!" I hear Volk scream out before everything goes white.

_*Beep Beep Beep*_

I wake up with a start. Falling off the bed. Breathing rapidly. I'm alive. I'm in Remnant. I'm safe. It's not just a dream.

"Alright boys up and at 'em. You boys know what time it is. PT time. Let's fucking get ready to push ladies" Ugh fucking Kopman. Even in another planet we still have to do this fucking bullshit ass PT. Does bring back memories of mornings stateside so that's nostalgic I suppose.

"Come on Frias get your ass up and moving!" Kopman yells at me from my position on the floor.

"Roger Cpl I'm up" I manage to get out through my clenched teeth. Looks like there's no way I'm getting out of this PT. Alright let's get up. As I manage to drag myself up I see that my hands are still shaking. I try to stop them, but they won't. It all felt so real. That night. Why can't I forget about that night.

"Alright since we didn't get sent any PT clothes from the lord Almighty nor did we get any running shoes we have to PT in our boots and ACU pants. Just the blouse is fine no need for the jacket. Now let's get dressed and ready for some running looks like a great fucking day outside." As he says that I look out to see that it's still pitch black outside. Great running in the dark with no PT belt. What can go wrong? After all PT belts save lives! Or some bullshit like that.

We all hurry up and start getting dressed. Not like we needed to undress since we all just slept in our underwear. We all silently go about putting on our clothes and I squeeze myself into a medium even though I'm obviously a large. Then we all take turns using the restroom as we need. After 20 minutes we are all dressed and ready for some good ole PT.

"Alright faggots let's get outside and start this fucking PT huh?" Kopman says leading us out the room and out of the dorms. Before we know it we are standing outside the Dorms.

"Alright boys since we have no Idea how long this trail around the campus is let's just run it until we worked ourselves a good ol sweat. Now everybody go ahead and stretch at your own discretion. I'm not going to hold your hand and do the warm ups in cadence like back home you can do this basic shit on your own." With that said we all go about limbering up to the best of our abilities. After five minutes of stretching out we all regroup around Kopman.

"Alright boys I've been thinking how about we christen this running trail with a good ol cadence run?" Cadence run? Fuck yea this is gonna be good.

"Fuck yea!"

"Sounds good to me"

"Let's do this shit"

"Alright good. Now I want you to sound off like you have a goddamn pair. I want everyone on this goddamn fucking Campus to hate out fucking guts for waking them up at 5 in the fucking morning you hear me?"

"We copy Cpl." We yell out in excitement. Oh yes this is going to be really fucking good! This is exactly what I need. A good cadence run to set me straight.

" Alright let's get started." With that we get in a two by two running formation.

We start jogging at a solid if not slow pace. After all no need to go fast on a Cadence run.

"Soldiers!" Kopman yells out starting the cadence

"Soldiers!" We yell back in response with everything we have.

"Here we go"

"Here we go"

"Here we go" Wow who knew Kopman had this set of lungs on him i'm generally impressed reminds me of my drill sergeant back in Fort Benning after a long day of hard work coming up and motivating us all to keep pushing forward with his thunderous Cadence. Nothing makes a tired soldier feel more alive.

"Here we go"

"C-130 rolling down the strip!" Oh fuck yes I love this cadence!

"C-130 rolling down the strip!"

"Airborne daddy going to take a little trip"

"Airborne daddy going to take a little trip"

"Mission unspoken, Destination unknown"

"Mission unspoken, Destination unknown" Yeah that's right we are badasses deal with it!

"Don't even know if we ever coming home"

"Don't even know if we ever coming home" That's right we are willing to lay our lives down without hesitation for our brothers. Will you "Hunters" do the same?

"Stand up, hook up, shuffle to the door"

"Stand up, hook up shuffle to the door" Oh would you look at that we passed by the first dorm and are approaching the next dorm.

"Jump right out and count to four"

"Jump right out and count to four" Uh I always hated that moment of your feet leaving the platform of the plane. Not the in air part or even the waiting. Just that split second where your boots come off the plane for the last time.

"If my main don't open wide"

"If my main don't open wide"

"I got a reserve by my side"

"I got a reserve by my side"

"And if that one should fail me too"

"And if that one should fail me too'

"Look out ground imma coming through"

"Look out ground imma coming through"

"And if I die on the ol drop zone"

"And if I die on the ol drop zone"

"Box me up and ship me home"

"Box me up and ship me home"

"Tell my girl I did my best"

"Tell my girl I did my best"

"Bury me in the lean and rest"

"Bury me in the lean and rest" Alright now it's time to add some melody to this Cadence call. Let's see how Kopman does.

"And when I go to heaven" Wow Kopman who knew you can sing?

"And when I go to heaven"

"St. Peter gonna say"

"St. Peter gonna say"

"How'd you earn your living?"

"How'd you earn your living"

"How'd you earn your pay?"

"How'd you earn your pay?

"I will reply with a whole lot of anger"

"I will reply with a whole lot of anger"

"Earned my pay as an Airborne Soldier!"

"Earned my pay as an Airborne soldier!" Damn that felt good as fuck I know we kinda ripped off that cadence from the Rangers but no one from Remnant knows about that. Besides it's one of if not the most badass cadences. We continue to run around the Campus another 6 times over the next hour and continuing to call cadences to the point our throats hurt. Eventually we stop singing and just keep jogging along at our pace. It's strange how I don't feel tired at all after running for an hour. Eventually we stop running around 5:45 in the morning and start doing other exercises such as like push ups, crunches, Fireman carry squats, Burpees, leg lifts, and most other common weight free workouts. Even after all of this we aren't tired at all. We are sweaty and thirsty as hell, but we sure as hell aren't tired. At around 630 we stop working out and decide to head up back to our rooms. It's still eerily quiet on the campus it seems like everybody is still asleep. Can't blame them really before I joined the Army getting me to wake up before 7am was a miracle.

Eventually we make it back up to the room and agree on a shower schedule with Kopman going first followed by me Newlin and the Volk last. Ah pulling rank to get shower first. Can't blame him I would do the same if I was team leader.

While I wait for Kopman to get out of the shower I pick out my clothes and the look through my equipment I hauled back from the Humvee. Looking through my stuff and tossing aside a few MRE's I finally find what i was looking for. My ipod with headphones. And wait is that my portable speaker and a charger for each? What the actual fuck I know I didn't pack those in there. You know what? I'm not going to question it. I'm just going to enjoy it. I unlock my iPod and plug in the headphones. My Ipod is fully charged. Very nice. Scrolling through the songs I decide this is a good morning for some grandson. I select War by grandson and let it play. (AN: Feel free to listen to War by Grandson). As I listen to the song I can't help but notice how perfect this song is for the situation we are getting ourselves into. We are going to get ourselves engulfed in a war over nations having first and second class citizens. I just lose myself in the music as I can't help but feel like this is a perfect song for remnant. Kind of sad that this planet is deprived of this kind of music.

Wait a minute. I just got an Idea. What if the world didn't need to be deprived of Earth music? Kopman sang heavenly with a thunderous voice. I know how to play the guitar and Newlin was in a band back in high school as a drummer. Volk can't play an instrument, but he can rap decently and he's good with developing beats on that computer of his. I may have just found a way to make us some very rich and influential idiots. It's not like its plagiarism if the artists don't exist on this planet right?


	9. Olé

Ah that was a great shower! After getting out of the shower to let Newlin get in I towel off and start putting on my clothes. Starting with my ACU pants and belt then throwing on the new BCS. Huh kinda stiff around the shoulders and the strap around the neck will take some getting used to, but overall pretty badass. I tuck it into my pants and tighten my belts then proceed to put on and tighten my boots lacing them up nice and tight. Looking up I notice Kopman strapping on a M17 thigh holster on his right leg and putting the M17 into it and putting a Ka-Bar knife and sheath onto his waist side on the left side. I do the same except using the older thigh holster for the M9 Beretta. Before putting the M9 into the holster I check it for anything wrong and put in a full mag into the Beretta. Checking myself in the mirror by the door one last time checking to makes sure I didn't miss a spot while shaving and noticing my hair is getting a little shaggy. I might want to get a haircut soon. Definitely get a fade. Newlin is pretty good at giving haircuts surprisingly. After sitting on my bed for a good 20 minutes listening to Kanye's Graduation album. Today will be a good day indeed. Finally everybody is ready and its 0730 perfect Breakfast just started.

"Alright numnuts gather around I just got a message from the Wizard of Oz." Wizard of Oz huh? Pretty good Kopman I approve! We all circle around him and his scroll.

"He sent us our cover story and our identification papers and legal paperwork. So this is the story we are from a large settlement out in the wilds between Vale and Vacuo that was hidden in the mountains and had no communications with the kingdoms in over 100 years. That will explain our lack of knowledge of this world, our weapons, our equipment and our slip up with mentioning that stuff to that busty blond. Now he put it down that our settlement was attacked by Bandits and everyone except us was killed in the fighting. So we can keep our families and stories true, but refer to them as dead and try to act sad to make it seem real. The reason we are alive is because we were out on patrol which would explain the Humvee and why we seemed to have come out of it unharmed. Apparently bandit attacks are common place here. Just another reason they should have an established military. These people are straight up idiots honestly. Oh well we got our cover story it's pretty straightforward and hard to fuck up even for you fucking idiots. Alright now let's get some fucking food. It's free and all you can eat so you can all pig out today but afterward I want everybody to eat reasonably and stay fit. Tracking?"

"Tracking Cpl." We all say in unison as we all can't wait to pig the fuck out. Oh we are going to make them regret having an all you can eat buffet with infantry soldiers around.

We leave the room and all of us decked out in the same clothes all of us with our patrol caps on. I'm sure we made an intimidating sight. Well if anyone was out and about. Seriously is everyone still asleep? What the hell it's 0730! Classes start soon. Oh well doesn't matter if they want to be lazy. After all I can't really hate them for it. In all honesty I'm just jealous that they got to sleep on these wonderful beds as long as they have. I'm not shitting you that is the best bed I have ever slept on, well maybe after spending so long sleeping anywhere and everywhere you can, any decent bed would seem amazing. Any ways after a while of Kopman navigating through the campus with the map on his scroll we eventually reach the Cafeteria. We come into a huge hogwarts-esque dining hall. Seriously why is the ceiling so damn high?

Doesn't matter we eventually find our way towards the serving area where we see the chefs working hard to create a massive buffet.

"Good morning boys! Well aren't you boys early risers! Usually most of the first year students here don't wake up in time for breakfast. Well help yourselves to as much as you want after all you growing boys need a lot of energy to grow into big strong Huntsman!" A sweet older lady who looked to be in her late 50s maybe early 60s tells us with a sweet old grandmotherly smile. Ah that's a nice change of pace a sweet old grandmother serving me breakfast. A great way to start the day! Now if only they had chorizo with beans then this would really bring me back home. But looks like it's the standard American continental breakfast. Not that there's a damn thing wrong with that I fucking love bacon, eggs and pancakes.

"Thank you ma'am we like to get up early and workout early so you'll be seeing us every morning at about this time. And trust us we will be eating plenty of this delicious looking food!" Kopman says as our spokesman. After all he is our Team leader so it should be his job.

"Such kind boys! Well I'll definitely enjoy making food for such kind young men. Please enjoy your food! My name is Alice if you need anything please don't hesitate to ask." Alice tells us with her sweet smile that reminds me of my own grandmother. And Ouch that hurt realizing I will never be able to see my family again. Best not depress myself this morning lets just worry about that later, just enjoy this breakfast. We all collect a big plate each of us saying, "Thank you ma'am" To Alice as we pass by her towards the food.

I would like to say we were civil while loading up our plates, but that would be a lie. It was a madhouse race for the Bacon and sausage. We ended up loading up all of the bacon and sausage they had onto our plates which utterly shocked Alice. Then I put a couple of scoops of scrambled eggs and hashbrowns over the meat and then drown it in ketchup. I grab another plate and load it up with pancakes and spread chocolate chips all over it then I drown it in strawberry syrup. Am I being a fatass? Sure but I feel like after 6 months of shitty food I earned this. We take our food over to a table close by and then Kopman and Volk go back to the buffet and they take the whole pitcher full of OJ and four glasses. Shortly we all start to absolutely demolish our food. After the initial frenzy of shoving food down our throats we slow down since we realize we have about an hour until classes and according to the map the classroom is just around the corner. With the eating frenzy brought back to civility I decide to bring up the two Ideas that I had.

"Hey guys remember those 2 poor saps we saw at the Team naming ceremony yesterday. Ya know the one with the crazy redhead with a hammer and the wanna be greek war goddess?" I ask looking at them, with Volk apparently using a pancake as a napkin to wipe the syrup of his face. Truly we are idiots.

"Yeah what about them Frias? I thought you wanted that pretty doctor. Don't tell me you suddenly went gay last night." Kopman says from right next to us after polishing off his glass of orange juice and pouring himself another.

"Fuck you Kopman. At least I have a better shot with Mallaurie than you do with Glynda. Anyways not the point. What I was thinking is that it seems like their team is friends with the team of four girls with that busty blond Yang. It seems like those boys are going to be surrounded by estrogen. Now I'm just spitballing here but maybe we can use this to our advantage. We help the guys out and add 2 brothers to the group and we can get closer with the ladies. Also add some allies you never know when they will come in handy."

"Hmm I like your thinking Frias. What do you guys think?"

"Anything to get me closer to the ladies is a brilliant plan Frias!" Volk says with a thumbs up and a glint in his eyes that just screams bad decisions.

"I'm down. After all no man left behind, that booty is just extra incentive" Newlin says trying to seem like he wants to do it out of the goodness of his heart. Yeah fucking right he just liked that booty that the girl with the bow had. Doesn't matter seems like they are all on board.

"Alright Frias sounds like a plan. But it's on you to convince them join us." Kopman tells me while finishing the last of his bacon. I look over to the buffett and they still haven't refilled the trays. Oh well looks like no seconds just yet.

"I also had another Idea."

"Well look at Frias the man with all the ideas!" Newlin says in the most sarcastic voice possible.

"No really idiots listen to this I think it's a great idea and can make us filthy rich"

"Okay Frias you have my attention" Kopman says with a lot more interest.

"Alright so all of us have our iPods right? Well I was thinking how about we cover all the music we have and then release it as our own to the world here. It's not like we are doing anything illegal and it'll bring our music to this world and it will make us filthy rich and possibly famous. Kopman can sing, I can play the guitar and sing a bit, Newlin can play the drums, and Volk can rap and produce most beats. We can do this guys. Granted we can't cover all the music we like, but we have a lot of music we can produce. It's just an Idea."

"Hey I can sing too" Newlin says looking kinda pissed. Oh shit that's right he was a theatre kid singing is kinda his thing. Well an extra voice never hurts!

"Well Frias that sounds like it could actually work. Worst that can happen is nobody will like it, but the rewards are so worth a basically non-existent downside. I am totally in support of this Idea." Kopman says nodding in approval, "We'll think about songs and getting the equipment needed after we get settled down and get paid."

"Alright sounds good Cpl."

With that said and done we enjoyed the rest of the breakfast just talking about the same stupid shit we always do for about another 30 minutes. When it seemed that we only had 20 minutes until our first class started we got up and headed to our class. Along the way we saw a few people giving us the stink eye. Guess we did wake some people up. Perfect. Let these "huntsman" hate us we thrive on the hate. After a little walk we arrive at an empty classroom with a large man with a rather impressive moustache and a velvet suit? Hmm interesting choice but it works quite well.

"Hohoho boys you must be the other worlders. I must say you lot look rather dashing indeed in your matching uniforms! Yes indeed it reminds me of my youth fighting in my village militia! Yes it does indeed! Now boys my name is Peter Port! You may call me Professor Port in the Classroom and Peter outside of it. After all we are now comrades in arms!" The jolly man says.

Well That's rather surprising. He is still active dude? He doesn't exactly seem to be in fighting shape. Rather he looks like he retired ten years ago. However looks can be deceiving and any man with a moustache that impressive at that age needs some respect.

"It's a pleasure Peter. My name is Michael Kopman and my brothers are Timothy Volk, Efrain Frias, and Caleb Newlin. You can just refer to us by our last names. It will be a pleasure to fight alongside you. I am sure we will learn much in your class" Kopman says as each of us shakes Peter's hand.

"Well boys it's a pleasure to meet fellow warriors. Please feel free to pick your seats and settle down for class we still have some time before it begins."

With that said we all decide to sit down on the first floor the furthest from the door. It takes another 4 minutes until people start to trickle in. It's a small class and there seems to only be about 12 other students, but there are still eight seats available. Huh maybe they just didn't max out the seating chart. Nothing too odd. Well we only have a minute until class starts. Just as I say that the eight people I was thinking about at lunch just came bum rushing through the door. Well that's an awfully interesting sight. Pretty sure I saw more than one panty being flashed huh I wonder who wears the lacy purple. So it's a very good start the day! I don't think they can say the same. They hurriedly get up and start to head to their seats but hesitate when they see us. The little girl with the red cape looks like she wants to bum rush us, wait isn't she a little too young to be attending this academy? She looks to be close to the age of my baby sister. If she is close to her age hell will be raised. Eventually they get into their seats.

Professor Port's lesson is actually pretty amazing I don't know why the other teams are not paying more attention. He is weaving the weaknesses and attacking patterns of the grimm and their preferred methods of attack into stories that are fantastic. This kind of information will be key in saving many lives in the field. I look over and I see the rest of my team also taking furious notes on all of the tips and advantages he gives us.

As great as his lesson is I can't help but to feel the stares of the majority of the class on me and my team. Why focus on us when he is giving such useful advice? Truly they are all even dumber than we are. And we are a bunch of idiots.

Towards the end of the class he asks who thinks they are a example of a true huntsman. Fuck it might as well show up all these weak rookies and show them how a Soldier handles shit. I raise my hand immediately.

"Ah very good Mr. Frias! Come over here then" As I walk over to him I see that the girl in white also had her hand up. Well Isn't that the bitchiest resting bitch face I have ever seen? I can already tell we aren't going to get along very well.

"Well Mr. Frias it's time to prove your capabilities by fighting this grimm I had captured. Do you wish to go get your gear from your room?" Should I? Nah I'm going to deal with it with what I have on hand. It would be a short fight with just my M4.

"No sir. I'll be fine. Release the beast! I'll take this on with what I have on me." I say with certainty. I hear the rest of the class murmur among themselves as I pull out my M9 and my Ka-Bar. I ready my gun and hold it in my right with the Ka-Bar in my left hand.

He releases the Grimm and it turns out to be a boar? Well then no need for the M9 I'll put on a show for these folks. I sheath the M9 in my holster and put the Ka-Bar into it sheath as well. Time to test how much of a tank I really am, hopefully Mallaurie wasn't bullshitting me. The Boar snorts at me as if unsure of if to charge or not.

"Come on have at me you little bitch!" I yell out flicking it off.

Well that seems to have gotten its attention as it starts to run right at me. I wait until the last second before moving slightly to the left of it. Letting it rush right past me.

"Olé!" I say twirling as it passes. Bowing slightly to the crowd in a cocky manner. Hell might as well have fun. Taunting the Grimm once more I dodge out of the way. Getting and Olé out of my team. By the fourth time I've done it the majority of the class is saying Olé.

Then as its passing by me a fifth time I reach out and grab a hold of its right tusk. I feel a light sting along my palm, but besides that I don't move at all or feel anything. The boar on the other hand looks stunned and hurt as I see a long crack along its tusk. I don't hesitate at all I pounce on It and whip out my Ka-Bar and jump on top of it and shove the whole blade into the boar's neck and rip it out causing as much blood loss as possible as quickly as possible all the while holding its head still as it cries out for mercy. I don't give it any mercy and just hold it still as I get soaked in its black blood. Eventually it stops struggling and starts to slowly evaporate. I feel all the blood on my slowly start to evaporate. As I get up I see the whole class stunned to silence and slightly horrified, well except for my team.

"HELL YEAH BITCH THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT" I hear Kopman yell out followed by Volk yelling, "YEAH YOU MADE THAT FUCKING PIG YOUR BITCH"

"HOAAHH THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT FRIAS" Newlin shouts out while jumping on top of the desk.

"Truly we are in the presence of a true warrior Ladies and gentlemen. Take note how he gave no mercy to the enemy. Against the forces of evil we must not give any mercy or hesitation. Although I would have done it with less flair. Well done Mr. Frias. That is all class you are dismissed." Huh didn't he mean to say true huntsman? Well fuck it I'm not a huntsman anyways I'm a warrior and a member of a team. As the rest of my team comes over to congratulate me I sheathe my Ka-Bar after checking that all the blood evaporated off of the knife.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and I see the busty blond Yang once more.

"I think you owe us an explanation Handsome." She says with a very serious expression. Behind her I see the rest of the Tardy group cutting off the exit. Well shit looks like we are going to have that talk now.


	10. Revelations

"Yang. I like you I really do. But please be careful throwing around the word deserve. Because honestly you haven't done anything to deserve Jack shit." Goddamnit I really don't want to have this fucking conversation right now. I was fucking having a great day before this point too. Ah she looks slightly pissed now. This is going to be fucking fun.

"No. You don't get to come out of nowhere and randomly end up in Beacon. Especially after all we did to earn our spot here at this Academy. You can't just Waltz in here like you own the place!" She says as she pushes her finger into my face.

"Well it's obviously because we're badass" I say as I knock her annoying ass finger out of my face.

"Bullshit. We deserve to know what you guys are up to and why Ozpin plucked you out of the forest just to put you guys into our class not an hour later" She demands as she puts her finger back in my goddamn fucking face again.

"First off. Don't put your finger in my goddamn face. God knows where it's been." I said slapping the finger away from my face.

"Did you just call me a whore?" she said getting really pissed off.

"Goddamnit. I didn't call you a whore. I just want you to get your finger out of my face. It's disrespectful and fucking annoying."

"Fine. But we still have the right to know why a random group of people suddenly ended up in our class. We should know what kind of people we are dealing with." Yang said as she put her hands on her hips.

"Let's take this outside alright? Just you and me. We don't need to cause a scene in the middle of a classroom." I said looking around and seeing the rest of the class was also staring at us.

Yang took the time to look at all the commotion we caused and agreed. "Alright fine." Looking back towards the rest of her friends she tells them to go on without her. Looking towards my team I tell them the same.

As soon as they leave I look at Yang and tell her "Come on follow me". We walk out of the building past the courtyard and into a secluded garden where we take a seat on one of the benches. Sitting down in silence for a couple seconds I ask. "So what do you want to know?"

"Where did you guys come from? You mentioned something about United States when we first talked. Not to mention you said something in a language I never heard before. It sounded like Mantalese. But I'm not sure." She said looking at with me with curious eyes. It looked like all her anger was replaced with curiosity the moment she figured she was actually going to be getting answers.

"Where we came from huh? Well me personally I'm from the State of Illinois. The United States was a network of settlements that were united under a constitution that helped us elect our rulers and protect equality. In all honesty I'm not surprised you haven't heard of us. We seceded from the Kingdoms over a century ago and hid in the mountains between Vacuo and Vale. It was a bloody existence. Constant fighting against bandits, but in the struggle all 50 settlements banded together in a united front. We formed a military and government. We made a comfortable life for our civilians. There were constant battles against the bandits in the area, but we fended them off easily enough. My team was headed to one of our FOBs when we heard that the main settlements all got hit at once. By the time we made it back there was nothing left, but ash and ruin. They spared no one. We didn't even know who hit us. Nor who had the ability to hit 50 targets simultaneously. I doubt bandits would ever be able to coordinate something like that. Regardless. What happened happened. We lost everything. We lost our purpose. Left to roam the countryside. Then we ran into you. We weren't lying when we said we were lost. Then Ozpin offered us a home. A fresh start. How could we say no to that?"

"I'm so so sorry." Yang said before hugging me out of nowhere. I wasn't expecting it and it startled me. But I slowly eased into the hug and accepted it. "I know what it's like to lose family. Nothing like you've had to go through. But it's hard. I know. If you ever want to talk I'm right here."

"Thanks Yang that means a lot." I said breathing in her peach scented hair.

"Did you have any family? I'm sorry if that's insensitive, but I think it's better to talk about it." Yang said as she let go of the hug.

"Yeah I had two little sisters. One three years younger than me and the other six years younger than me. Xochtl (pronounced Sochi) was three years younger than me. She was the brains of the family. Nerdy, but she killed it in school. She was going to make us proud as a doctor no doubt. My youngest sister Yaritza. Well she was a feisty one. She was an athletic prodigy. A once in a generation talent. Hell I was the normal one. Nothing super about me. Just an average guy. I loved my family. My parents always protected us and made sure we wanted for nothing, even if we were barely making ends meet. Me joining the military helped a lot. An extra income to the family. I did it partially so that my sisters could follow their dreams. I figured, hell, if I can't be anything special, then I can damn well help my sister's be something special. Yet even trying to do my best for them I failed them. I should have been there for them. Not away on some goddamn meaningless assignment. Why did I get to live? What's so goddamn special about me." I said frustrated once more looking towards the ground. All I could think about was that night. I should have been the one going home in a box. Why did I get to live? As I lose myself in my emotions I feel a soft warm hand on my cheek. The Yang pulls my face up to meet her eyes. All I see is warmth and concern in her eyes.

"You really loved your family. That's good. That shows that you are a good person. At least in my eyes. Your family sounded amazing. I can't imagine going through what you have, but I know if I was in your boots, I wouldn't have to go through it alone. None of you should. Listen I'm sorry for being so pushy and nosy. I just didn't want a group of shady unknowns spending so much time around my little sister."

"Shady? Little sister?" I ask in utter confusion as I feel the warmth of her hand leave my cheek.

"Well you guys did seem shady. Appearing out of nowhere in matching clothes. Like come on you guys even look like upperclassmen. No offense of course. I like your mature look. And the fact that the vibe around you guys screams danger, even when you guys are acting silly. It's like watching my dad. He never lowers his guard. You guys must have seen some real shit to be like that, and it didn't make sense for people like that to be freshman. At least until you explained it. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be so deep. I apologize for bringing all of that up. I know it can be tough to talk about that stuff. I appreciate that you trust me with that. Even if we barely know each other, we are comrades now. And I believe a show of trust deserves one in return. I love my family. Well, what's left of it. It's just me, my little sister Ruby, my Dad, and Uncle Qrow. My mom went on a mission and never came home. She was a Huntress. The best in the business. She was super mom. Hunter of Grimm and baker of cookies. Apparently she died in the line of duty. I found out she wasn't my biological mom, the woman that gave birth to me ditched me not too long after I was born. Now I've spent years trying to track her down, just to know why she didn't want me. What was wrong with me that she didn't want me?" Now it was my turn to console her. I gently grabbed her in a hug and told her.

"There's nothing wrong with you. There was something wrong with her. You were just a baby, only a cruel mother would leave her baby daughter. I know it hurts, but you probably lived a better childhood without her. Because the mom that raised you and loved you. She was your real mom. For all intents and purposes the idiot that left you was just a genetic donor. She was an idiot that missed out raising a wonderful daughter."

"The broken consoling the broken. Isn't that hilarious." She said with a giggle as she held onto me a little tighter. "How about your mom?"

"My mom was the best. She wasn't really a baker of cookies. But she busted her butt just to make sure we had a good life. She worked early long hours and came back home and slaved over the kitchen so that everyday we could have a nice hot meal together as a family. The meals weren't anything amazing. It was usually beans, rice, and a little bit of meat. Mostly because it was cheap. But she made it still feel and taste amazing. It's cheesy, but I think it's because it was filled with her love for us. I never thought I would say this when I was a kid, but I really miss those beans and rice." I said as I couldn't stop a few tears from spilling out.

"They will always be with us. In our hearts." She said as I felt the tears from Yang on the crook of my neck where she laid her head. I didn't need to fake any tears. I didn't lie about anything except the fact that they aren't dead. They are still alive. Just to never be seen again. Hell they probably think I'm dead. My poor mother is probably going hysterical. For a little while we just held each other and cried. There's no shame in it. We are all human. We all suffer.

After a couple of minutes I remembered something. She said that Ruby was her little sister. "Hey Yang. You said that Ruby was your little sister right?"

"Yeah that's right" She said sniffling and lifting her face off of my shoulder. Not letting go, but simply leaning her head on mine so that our ears were touching. At that moment I realized that I could feel her entire voluptuous body on mine. Well. That's. Something.

"How old is she? She looks a little too young to be here" I ask keeping my cool as I could feel her every shuddered breath and even her heartbeat with how close she was clutching me.

"She's fifteen. But don't worry she's a prodigy. She can handle herself, and if not I'll be there to protect my little sister." She said in a very determined voice as her breathing evened out.

"It doesn't matter if she's a prodigy. She shouldn't be here doing this. Hell you shouldn't either. This line of work changes you. Both of you deserve to live long peaceful lives. Not lives where you have to watch your friends die and end up becoming a shell of the person you once were. This job changes you if you live. I don't want to see either of you change. She reminds me a lot of my baby sister. Plucky, yet goofy. Even if she is a prodigy. She seems innocent and pure. We should protect that and not let her see the reality of this world. Of how fucked up it all is." I feel her take a long shuddered sigh before she speaks up.

"You're a good guy. You care and I can tell you are hurting. Hell you aren't like the other guys. Most guys would have tried to take advantage of this situation. Not that I would let that happen mind you. Or would I?" She chuckled for a second into my ear. "But seriously this is her dream and like you said. It's the job of the older siblings to make sure our sisters get to live their dreams. I'll follow her to the ends of remnant if that what it takes to make sure she lives her dreams."

"We have that in common at least. I would have done anything for my sisters." I said as I held on a little bit harder.

"By the way what was that thing you said when you know. You kissed my hand. The other day." I could only imagine how red her face is considering that I could feel the heat coming off her face.

"That was French. A language that's spoken by a portion of the people in the US. Mostly in the settlement of Louisiana. Do you really want to know what I said?" I asked her while lowering my voice.

"Well yeah. I'm kind of curious now." She said with no hesitation whatsoever.

"I said that your beauty was radiant milady. Although now I know that your beauty isn't just skin deep. You genuinely care about other people I think I should get back to the guys. I'll see you around Yang." I said before leaving a quick innocent kiss on her cheek, before heading back towards the dorms. I never looked back once, but I could imagine a cute blush on her face. I wanted to see it for myself, but it would ruin the moment. Maybe I can make a life here. I guess I'll have to try.

Once I make it to my dorm I open the door to see the guys lazing about. Just chilling. Looking over to Kopman I tell him, "Hey yo. Let's go pick up those two guys from Team JNPR."

"Alright let's go. Newlin and Volk. You two idiots stay here. You'll probably scare them off with the amount of stupid you two carry." Kopman said as he got off his bed and made his way towards me.

"Oh right we're stupid. Aren't you the one that proposed to a stripper? Only to get shot down by said stripper?" Newlin fired back. Oh shit. Shots fired. Shots fucking fired.

"Oh go fuck yourself Newlin. Shouldn't you be finding the nearest theatre circle jerk?" Kopman fired right back.

"Funny that you mention circle jerks, because if I remember correctly you were sucking First Sergeants dick all year before deployment. Looked like a boot-licking faggot if I ever saw one." As soon as Newlin said that Kopman pounced on him like a man possessed. Newlin brought him down to the ground and quickly started to dominate. Newlin is just way too strong and big for Kopman to beat when it comes to straight up grappling. In no time, Newlin had Kopman in a headlock and tapping out.

"Alright Kopman now that you had your ass handed to you, you ready to head out?" I ask him after he recovers a little from being manhandled.

"Yeah yeah. We'll finish this later Newlin." Kopman says as we head out.

Walking away from the dorm Kopman straightens out his uniform.

"So how does it feel to have your ass handed to you Cpl." I ask just to piss him off a little bit more.

"Oh fuck off Frias. You suck at CQC" Kopman fired right back.

"Oh, and the reason I've won every single spar with you is because I suck? Huh explains why you're a marksmen at rifle if we are using the opposite day rules. I'm pretty you can barely hit the broadside of a barn Cpl."

"Oh go eat a dick."

As he says that we arrived at team JNPR's dorm. Ignoring his last comment, I knock on the door to find it quickly opened by the spunky orange head of Team JNPR.

"Oh! You were the one that got to have fun with that Grimm earlier! It was so cool how you made it miss at the last second saying Ole! Oh it was so much fun! I like you mister! You have pizzaz! Not that I like you more than Renny! Because me and Renny are together, but not together-together. Because that would be crazy you know. Because we've known each other since we were kids-" And on and on she droned on before our rescue came in the form of one Asian dude. Who I'm suspecting is named Ren.

"Nora I think they came here for something. Let them talk." He said in the most deadass voice. The man sounded dead inside. He needed help. Stat.

"Yeah we actually wanted to talk to you and your other friend for a bit. Jaune I think was his name." I told him

"Sure come on in." Ren said opening the door open to his room.

"Ah actually I wanted to talk to you and Jaune alone outside for a minute. It won't be long we promise." I tell him while looking into the room seeing both of the ladies of JNPR waiting inside expectantly.

"Sure. Come on Jaune let's go see what they have to say." Ren says as he grabs Jaune by the jacket and drags him out of the room like a wet noodle. Honestly, this guy needs to build a backbone. No confidence whatsoever with this kid. He looks scared of us.

Walking out of the dorm, we stop just outside of the building. Turning to Ren and Jaune I begin my spiel. "Alright well to start off, why don't we introduce ourselves? My name is Efrain Frias, the idiot beside me is Michael Kopman. We refer to each other by our last names, so it's Frias and Kopman respectively. The other two idiots you've seen on our team are Volk and Newlin."

"Um. Hi Frias. It's nice to meet you my name is Jaune. Jaune Arc you can just call me Jaune" The blonde now named Jaune says.

"My name is Lie Ren. You can just call me Ren. It's a pleasure to meet you Frias" The Asian now named Ren says.

"Alright guys now I'm sure you are wondering why I asked you to come with us. Well the main reason is I noticed that you boys are going to be surrounded by metric shit tons of estrogen, and would probably like some guy friends to even it out and to be able to relax. Especially when it comes to when they have their periods. Lord help you poor boys when their cycles start to synchronize. Trust us. It's not a myth. That shit happens. And honestly we could use some friends ourselves because we don't know alot of basic stuff about this place. Like we don't even know how money works here. SO, I was hoping that we could all be friends and hangout. You know. Train, listen to music, play cards, play games and have fun. What do you boys say?" I ask them, noticing the horrified expressions on their faces when I mention periods. Oh if I only had a camera. Oh wait I do! I pull out my scroll quickly and snap a quick picture.

"Um that sounds good to me man. My mom always did say strangers are friends you just haven't made yet" Jaune says as soon as he recovers. Poor boy. Did he not get taught the birds and the bees? Because I doubt I should be the one to tell him how that works.

"Alright man thats what Im talking about!" I say as I give him a solid bro hug. Kopman following me up with another Bro hug for Jaune.

"Alright how about you Ren?" I say turning to the other guy

"I think we can be good friends with each other. After all we are all comrades. We should get to know each other better." He says in a slightly emotional voice.

"Damn right bro" I say as I bring him to a long bro hug, "We will fight the good fight brother"

"I like the sound of that" Ren says as I let go and her cracks a slight smile. Well looks like we got two more brothers into the group, even if Jaune does still seem slightly afraid of us still. After a bit more we chatting, we exchanged numbers, and told them that we'd meet them in two hours for a good PT session. It was time to get these boys in Army shape.


	11. Why?

Apparently during the first week of classes we only had one class each day, supposedly to help the first years get accustomed to living on campus, and focus on building closer bonds with their teams. It made sense, in all honesty, and It's one of the few things that they have gotten right up to this point.

However, Soldiers with tons of free time is usually a horrible idea. So Kopman decided that if we had tons of free time we might as well use it to keep ourselves in shape. After all, there's no better way to bring a group of guys closer together than by suffering together, so we invited Ren and Jaune to join us in our PT session. We told them to meet us outside of the dorms in two hours. During that time, we all changed out of our BCS, and put on an Army blouse.

"Hey, Frias. What happened with the busty blonde you went and talked to? I saw her leaving the courtyard pretty dazed and flustered. Did you make out with her? You sly dog!" Newlin said with a slightly mischievous look in his eyes.

"Nah man. We actually had a pretty deep conversation. She wanted to know where we we're from, so I told her the cover story that Oz gave us. She asked about my family, and I told her the truth. Then she told me about hers. I learned a lot about her. Like did you know that the kid on Team RWBY is actually her little sister? Turns out they both lost their mom. And she believes that I lost my family too. It's technically a lie. Since I assume they are all still alive, but I realized it's all true. We lost our families man. I doubt we are probably ever going home, and it really sank in when we were talking. She's a really good person. She has a good heart to ask and offer support for something like that. It takes a special kind of person to do that. It's just all starting to hit me man. Like when we were deployed. I knew there was a chance that we weren't going to make it home. My family knew that too, but I figured I would at least make it home in a box so my family could have some sense of closure. There's no real closure from burying an empty box. Remember Rodgers' funeral? We couldn't even have an open casket." The guys nodded, going back to that god awful day that we put what remained of our friend into the ground.

**Five months ago, Arlington National Cemetery**

The heat was unbearable. It reminded us of the sweltering heat where we lost him. It's only fitting that it would be this hot. The despair in the eyes of Rodger's mom wrenched at my heart. Her screams of mourning crying out for her baby tore at my soul. I looked at the star spangled banner. The only flag I trusted. Was his death really necessary? Did what we went through really protect freedom? Deep in my soul I knew it was necessary, but the anger and pain was overpowering. It was a closed casket, so his mother never got to see his face one last final time. It was probably for the best. There wasn't much left of him. My best friend. I knew his family for a long time. I went to elementary school all the way to high school with him. We were practically brothers. We were so happy and naive when we found out we would be going to boot camp together. We were inseparable. Right up until that RPG blew him to pieces. I still remember screaming at him to get down, sighting the Haji as he took aim at my buddy. But I was to late. Too fucking late. Goddamnit. I looked back at the casket, and remembered our conversation the night before the patrol. We had gotten some Afghan booze from some local lady, and sitting around our fire barrel, talking shit at each other. Rodgers had finally gotten laid the night before, a cute Air Force Radio Technician whom had set her eyes on him the moment he stepped off the C Bird. Rodgers, of course, being the idiot that he was, was completely blind to her advances. Until in a drunken stupor, how she got drunk on Haji booze was incredible to me, she had told him that she wanted him. And he took the bait. Popped some cherries right that night. We were talking about it, trying to get some info about it from him. Sta' Sarn't was sleeping, so we could talk relatively freely about that shit.

"Ay man, c'mon Rog'. You gotta tell me about it man. We're brothers. You can't keep this shit from us." I told him as the other dudes laughed their dumb asses off. You would think they were preschoolers. Actually, who the fuck am I kidding, they are fucking preschoolers. Rogers just shook his head.

"Nah man. That shit was too good to just tell you chucklefucks about. I tell you, next thing I know, Sarn't Anderson is gonna be up my ass with his boot all over it. And she'll probably get NJP'd and hazed by those self infatuated Chair Force Officer Fags. Nah." Rogers replies to me, a stern yet goofy look written on his face. He wanted to tell me, he knew I wouldn't spill. He was mostly worried about the Fuck nuts who were too busy laughing to see the Camel Spider warming itself by the fire. Or was it looking for Volk to eat his face off? I didn't know. I just wanted to hear the story of how he banged, to be honest, the hottest Air Force chick to ever wear the uniform, in a fucking maintenance hangar, where the Marine Force Recon had set up camp, who were 'conveniently' all out on a patrol, all while Rodgers was supposed to be on Firewatch.

"Bro, trust me. These dumb fucks are too busy getting ready to be mauled by little Freddy over there, to give a rats ass about us. So spill that shit, or I go ask her myself." I questioned further, waving my knife hand in his face. He pushed my hand away, told me I'm number one in sign language, and sighed.

"Fine. Fine. Jesus. You really want to know?" He looked at me, annoyance written all over his face. I could see the goofy glint in his eyes though, so I knew we cool.

"Yes you dumbass. Hurry before they regain what little intelligence they possess!" I was nearly tackling him.

Rogers pushed me off of him, laughing at my idiotic mannerisms. "Was the best time I've ever had, and I'm currently sitting in a foxhole, around a burning shit can, talking to your dumb ass. Living the fucking dream man." He said. "She's into being dominated, which was weird as fuck. But she's really nice. We talked about maybe dating, getting together once we get back home, starting a family." He sighed. "I don't know man. I joined the army to serve, do my part for my country. But now. I just want to do it for her man. You know what I mean?" He finished, looking over at the three idiots who were poking Freddy with a stick. We both laughed as he started climbing up said stick, scaring the shit out of Kopman, who dropped the stick and stumbled backwards. Volk and Newlin leaving his dumb ass to get the fuck away. I shook my head.

"Hey man. If you're going for it, I'm with you man. You're both E-2, so it's not illegal. Just be nice to her man. If at all possible, get her to the Dark side. She'd look way hotter in ACUs that those weird ABUs. Tryna be Army with that tiger stripe pattern?" I gave him a reassuring punch to his shoulder, watching the idiots piss themselves over a bug. Thr next morning, we got our battle rattle on, and loaded our rifles. I had finished a bit ago, so I laid back on my cot for a quick combat nap. I was awakened by a boom. Scrambling out of the tent, we all ran to our foxhole. Back to the same place we were nearly overrun not a week earlier. It was dawn, so the sun was just coming up, and we could barely see the enemy coming at us, popping off rounds at us. The Marines from the tent next to us were coordinating with our team. A Marine with a Ma-Deuce ran up to us.

**"The name's Corporal Quebman, I'm my squads Machine Gunner. We got two Russian Tanks coming up towards this position. We need to hold off the ground units until they can get the Fucking HAWGS up in the air!"** He yelled as he set up his SAW next to us.

**"Rodger! We'll keep them off best we can! But we can't see shit! It's too fucking dark out here!"** I said popping shots at any silhouette I could make out.

**"I got you. My buddy is over at the Mortar pit, he's popping off the Illumination rounds in a moment. Get ready, as soon as they come, it's only a few moments of light!"** Quebman yelled over the fire as he began laying it down like peanut butter.

**"I'm good to go! I got a fresh mag ready to let it rip!"** Rodgers yelled out from next to me.

**"Yeehaw!"** Quebman screamed at that. His radio began screaming, and he leaned his ear onto the speaker. "Alright, five seconds out for illumination!" He reloaded the Ma Deuce, throwing his spent ammo can behind him.

**"Ready to light these bastards up Frias?"** Rogers yelled at me.

**"Fuck yeah! I wanna show these bastards just who they are fucking with!"** I yell back with a confident smirk on my face.

**"FOR VALHALLA!"** Quebman screamed just as the sky lit up. We all opened fire, picking off targets left and right. Over the rocks in the distance, I could see two large shadows, growing slowly larger. About four klicks off.

**"TANKS SIGHTED!"** I heard Rodgers scream as he ducked down to reload. Quebman packed in a second later, quickly reloading his SAW. Not low enough though, as a bullet tore through his shoulder.

**"FUCK! OH GOD DAMN! AAAAHHH! JESUS! CORPSMAN!"** He screamed as he laid back against the dirt. He grabbed at his left shoulder, his cammies stained slowly red.

**"MEDIC!!"** I yelled as I ran over to the downed Marine and applied pressure to the wound.

**"NO! GET THE FUCK BACK! I CAN MOVE MY RIGHT ARM STILL! GET BACK, LET'S FUCK THEM UP NOW, WORRY ABOUT MY STUPID ASS LATER!"** He screamed at me as he kept reloading the SAW. It was slower, but he could do it.

**"FUCK IT FINE!"** I yell back and hurry back to my position next to Rodgers, and help lay a methodical and stead rate of hate down on the enemy. I heard Quebman's death box going off a moment later.

**"C'MON GOAT FUCKERS! GET SOME! GET SOME OF THE GOOD QUEBMAN FAMILY RECIPE! HOT LEAD AND NO FUCKS TO GIVE!"** I heard him yell at the hajis. This guy was mad.

**"WHERE THE FUCK ARE OUR EYES IN THE SKIES? AND HOW DID THEY GET TANKS SO FUCKING CLOSE TO US?!"** I yelled out to anyone that would listen as I changed out my mags.

**"OLD RUSSIAN SHIT IS WEIRD, LET'S LEAVE IT AT THAT!"** Yelled the Marine Riflemen to the right of my position. One of them, a blonde chick, shouted over to me.

**"YO! QUEBMAN'S GOT THE GOOD COMS. GO USE IT!"** She screamed as she popped off her rifle at the poor fuckers to come into her sights.

**"YOU HEARD 'EM QUEBMAN!"** Rodgers yelled out towards the Marine.

**"WORKING ON IT! IT'D BE EASIER IF MY LEFT HAND WASN'T A FUCKING DUD!"** He shouted back, putting down the SAW and talking into his radio. A moment later, he dug the fuck in and screamed. "ARTY ARTY ARTY!"

**"DANGER CLOSE BITCHES!"** Rodgers yells out before taking cover.

Everybody dug the fuck in as we heard the quiet whistle of incoming boom boom. We all cheered and howled as the explosions came, hearing the cries of agony of the hajis. We just got back up, ready to lay hate. And then I saw it. Saw the Haji motherfucker with the RPG. Aimed right at Rodgers' position. Time slowed. I screamed at him, but he must've thought I was cheering, because he turned to look at me, a smile on his face. I began to run towards him, only to be pushed into the dirt as Quebman jumped on top of me, having seen the RPG. I knew he was trying to save me, but I didn't care. I punched, slammed, anything to get to Rodgers. Pull him down behind the dirt. I think not seeing it hit him was better. Seeing his smile one last time, it kept me together.

***BAM***

I felt the air forced from my lungs, pushed into the dirt. My ears were ringing, even with my Ear plugs. The silence was deafening. I heard a buzzing noise. The weight on top of me lifted, and I saw to dark spots soar through the air above me, towards the enemy. I sat up, everything still a little fuzzy. I looked to my right, Quebman was shaking me, yelling something to me. I couldn't make him out. I saw a combination of Sailors and Soldiers, no doubt Corpsmen and Medics running straight for us. I tried to look to my left. Towards Rodgers, but I felt Quebman pull my head back.

"-O! NO! LOOK AT ME! JUST LOOK AT ME MAN! IT'S GONNA BE ALRIGHT MAN! IT'S GONNA BE FINE. JUST KEEP LOOKING AT ME!" He screamed at me. I nodded weakly, trying to sit up. Quebman helped me sit up, and held onto my plate vest, keeping me from laying back down. "Hey. We got 'em. The A-10's from Kandahar came in and fucked them up. Cavalry is hunting them down. We won man!" He spoke reassuringly, out of breath.

Standing here now, in this Texas heat, I can only really ask. Did we really win? We lived. I lived, but I would have given anything to have been the one in the box instead of Rodgers. I couldn't stop the stream of tears falling from my eyes.

I see my team next to me, tears streaming down their faces. Beyond them is the young Air Force girl, now an Airman 1st Class, and the 3rd MEU Marines from our foxhole, having come from leave to pay their respects to him. Quebman especially looked fucked up. His Gunny said that he beat himself up about it, saying that if he hadn't held me down, I might've been able to save Rodgers.

The American flag still draped his coffin as the Chaplain said his final prayers for my best friend. As soon as he finished, the men from the First Regiment went about folding the American flag with surgical precision. Each fold felt like a stab in my heart. After the flag was folded, they gave the flag to me. I robotically walked towards Rodgers mother. Each step being forced. When I reach her, the words get stuck in my throat for a second, but I push through. I need to, for Rodgers.

"On behalf of the President of the United States, The United States Army, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service." I tell her as I hand her the flag which she clutches to her chest as she continues to bawl. His father reaches out for a handshake and I oblige him. He uses it to bring me closer and whispers into my ear. "I know you did everything you could to bring my son back alive. He loved you like a brother, and we love you like a son. We don't blame you. So don't blame yourself."

Those words tore through me worse than anything during the ceremony. It took all my willpower not to break down. I nod to him in acknowledgment and make my way back over to my team. The rest of the ceremony went by like a blur. The twenty one gun salute snapped me back to reality. I couldn't bring myself to talk to his family after that. I ended up spending the rest of the day drowning my sorrows in booze with my team and the Marines. We needed it, but I will always regret not going to talk with his family. That will live with me for the rest of my life.

"Hey man. We can't keep our heads in the past. We just got to take it one day at a time man." Newlin said laying a hand on my shoulder somberly. We were never the same after that day. Kopman straightened up, and took his job more seriously. It changed us all. We didn't have much time to process it all before we were shoved right back into the thick of it. Into this fucked up situation.

"Yeah I know, but that's not the point here. The point is we aren't making it home in anyway shape or form, worse we are probably labeled MIA and our families will have to go the agony of waiting for weeks to find out if their sons are still alive holding on to a false hope that their boys are going to make it home. I'm just imagining my family praying the rosary over and over again in some vain hope of me being found alive. Then the Army is going to label us KIA and they won't even have the closure of seeing their son one last time before they lay me down to rest. Instead they have to put an empty coffin into the ground for a man that they assume is dead and knowing my mom she will live out the rest of her days holding on to some hope that her little boy will come home one day. Dammit man. I'm never going to be able to see my two little sisters get married. I'm never going to see my baby sister go to Prom and scare her prom date. I'm never going to be able to eat my grandmother's cooking. I'm never going to see the Chicago skyline from Millennium Park. I'm never going to be a godfather to my goddaughter. I'm never going to see my nieces and nephews. Worst of all I know my parents will be heartbroken and think I'm dead. But instead I'm on some bullshit and end up on this fucking planet for some reason. Why us man? Why couldn't we just make it home?" I said trying not to breakdown. I felt another hand on my shoulder. Looking up I see Kopman.

"Hey man. I wish there was a long winded speech I could give to tell you it's going to be alright. But I'm not going to bullshit you. Life sucks. It's all bullshit and misery with brief periods of happiness. We have to embrace the suck. Life will kick us down again and again, but we have to keep on going. We have to push through the agony. Push through the bullshit. But you don't have to do it alone. That's what you have your brothers for. If you stumble and fall we will be right there to pick you up. The same goes for all of us. We'll make it through this together. As brothers." Kopman backed off and then started stretching a little in place. "Now how about we get rid of all this mental bullshit with something that will remind you of home. Some good ol' fashioned PT. Let's show these poor bastards how its done."

"We still got like an hour and a half left until PT Kopman." Volk said flopping down on his bed.

"Ah well then. Use this time as you please. Just don't add or subtract from the local population." You would think it would be a stupid thing to say, but it's really not. In the end we all spent the time in the room chilling out. Volk took a nap, Newlin was writing something, Kopman was reading, and I was listening to music. Mostly Five Finger Death Punch and Three Days Grace. Needed to get in the mood to PT.

Eventually it was time for us to head out towards the field in front of the dorms to meet up with Jaune and Ren to get our sweat on. We all pile out of the room and start to walk up toward where we told Jaune and Ren to meet us. We got there and they still weren't there. So we all decided to stretch and warm up while we waited. I couldn't help but notice that a lot of the students were stopping what they were doing and watching us. What have they never seen people workout before?

I guess Jaune and Ren took our 2 hours to mean being here in 2 hours. I keep forgetting that even though they are kinda like a military they still have the thought process of civilians. We are going to have to teach them that 15 minutes early is on time and on time is late.

After warming up and stretching for 15 minutes we finally see both of them arrive in regular gym clothes and running shoes. Well at least they dressed right for PT, I would love to not be wearing this tight ass shirt, these heavy boots, and these pants. I guess we'll have to wait until we get paid to start buying gym clothes and other necessities. Actual we should go to Ozpin and get our agreement down in writing, we don't want to rely on a vague agreement which he has no evidence he agreed to. Eh, thoughts for another time I suppose.

"Alright you guys I see that you guys made it. But one little tip. If you guys are hanging out with us keep in mind that 15 minutes early is on time and being on time is the same as being late. Now start stretching we are going for a nice long run today." Kopman tells them as he pats them on the back.

They start doing the basic legs stretches nothing too intensive and definitely not as much as they really should be doing after all stretching is a key part of working out. But hey if they think its enough then it's their funeral. After about 5 minutes they signal that they think they are ready.

We get into the same formation we had in to morning with Ren and Jaune joining the rear. We start running the same path around the campus that we did in the morning. We start off running a bit faster than we did during cadence this morning. Nothing to fast we want to go for distance and we want them to keep up and nor fall out of formation. After 30 minutes of running I hear Jaune starting to breathe a lot harder and Ren starting to slow down a bit. I look over to Volk who is running next to me. I get his attention and nod over to the two who are starting to struggle. He immediately know what I want to do. We fall out to the sides and get behind them.

"Come on Jaune keep up the pace and breathe through your nose. Focus on your breathing not the running. You got this man It's a piece of cake." I yell my encouragements to him as Volk does the same to Ren. Jaune looks over to me and nods his head and gives me a thumbs up, "Good shit man that's what I talking about i'm right here with you man."

Slowly Jaune's breathing gets better and he's able to keep up for another 15 minutes.

At the 45 minute mark Jaune is holding his side and starting to do the same. Ren doesn't look be doing any better.

"Come on Jaune! You gotta dig deep! You have to want it. How badly do you want to be a fucking Huntsman?" I yell out to Jaune.

He looks at me with more anger that I thought he could possibly hold, "More than anything."

"Good then prove it. Push your body to its limits. Come on I want to see that resolve that you have. If you think you want it bad enough then this pain isn't shit. Pain is just weakness leaving the body! Come on tell me how much you want to be a Huntsman!" I scream in his ear pushing him to go further and harder.

"I want it with all my heart and soul!" Jaune yells out

"Then prove it! I want you to keep running until you can't run anymore! Push yourself! Be the best you! Come on man I know you can do it! Just keep trucking along man!" I yell at him trying to get him to keep up the pace. We continue this for another 15 minutes and I have to say the guy has a lot of heart. I know he was done at the 45 minute mark but he kept pushing himself for another 15 minutes on sheer will power. I have to respect him for that much.

"Good shit man" I say as I give Jaune a hand to sit up and I hand him a bottle of water, "If you can keep up this level of determination we'll make you a badass in no time!"

He give me a tired smile and takes a small sip of his water, "Thanks for believing in me man, nobody else has pushed me like that before and believed in me that much." He tiredly wheezes out.

"No problem man that's what bros do. Now enjoy your water break because we aren't done yet." I say with what probably looked like a sinister smile.

"We aren't done yet? Are you trying to kill us?" Jaune says in absolute horror. From 10 or so feet away lying on the ground Ren moans in agreement with Jaune.

"No we're not trying to kill you, We are just making you guys into badasses." As the Rest of my team comes from behind me nodding in agreement.


	12. Brothers

After another 30 minutes of pushing these two boys to their breaking points, with push ups, sit ups, and other standard workouts, we finally stopped. They did well for their first time. They pushed themselves to their limits, and we all respected that. They were completely soaked in sweat, and didn't seem like they were getting up off the ground anytime soon. Other students kept watching us throughout the whole workout session. Really? Is working out that uncommon? Looking up, I see two pairs of redheads looking down from the Dorms with concern. Honestly ladies, calm down. We aren't going to kill them. We are doing you a favor, if anything.

We decided to give them a little while longer to rest on the ground. Eventually, however, it was decided that the boys didn't have the energy to get back up and make it to their rooms. Maybe we did push them a little hard. Oh well. A shower, some food, and some shut eye will do them some good.

"Alright. Since Jaune and Ren aren't going to make it back to their dorms under their own power, we should carry them back to our dorm for the meantime, so they regain some strength and get some chow in them. Caleb, take Ren, and Frias, take Jaune. Let's get them off the ground and out of the public eye. I think some people are actually thinking we killed them." Kopman said, looking around at all the people watching us. Me and Newlin nodded our heads, and went about picking the two boys up. We received no resistance from either Ren or Jaune. If anything they look relieved to be getting back inside but too tired to voice their opinions. It weird that they feel so light like almost half of what they really should weigh.

Anyways we make our way back to our dorm while getting many strange looks and a cute bunny girl taking a bunch of pictures of us. Huh. Well I have no idea what that's about. Maybe evidence in case these two end up dead tomorrow morning? Should I strike a pose? Eh it's not really important anyways we finally make it back to the dorms. Caleb and I drop Ren and Jaune on our beds respectively. The beds are still slightly messy from us being lazy bums earlier.

I go over to our mini-fridge that was pre-stocked with a ton of water bottles and toss one each towards each of us. Ren and Jaune chug the water bottles down in no time flat, while the rest of us slowly drink our water.

"Alright I know you two are exhausted but I'm sure that a shower and some chow will do wonders for you. Hey Frias give Jaune a pair of your pants and grab a blouse for him. I'll give one of my pants to Ren and a blouse to him so they can take a shower. Then we can all get some grub. I don't know about you guys but that 4 hour long lesson and that PT session has me starving. We even missed lunch!" Kopman says as he heads over to his drawer and pulls out a pair of pants and a blouse and throwing it to Ren. I do the same and give one of each to Jaune. Ren decides to go first and somehow manages to get himself up and into the shower.

"How you holding up Jaune?" I ask as everyone else gets their stuff ready to shower up.

"Exhausted and everything hurts" Jaune groans out.

"That's good man that just means it's working. Don't worry if you stick with us you'll be a badass in no time. You have the heart now you just need the training." I tell him.

"I hope so man. I've always wanted to be a huntsman ever since I was a little kid, but nobody ever believed in me. Even my own family didn't believed in me. You have no idea how much it means to have your support."

"Don't worry about it man. We are all brothers in this room. We support and protect each other. If you ever need help don't hesitate to ask us for our help. We got your back man. You showed real heart and determination out there today. Anybody with that kind of heart and determination is welcome to be one of us. Part of the brotherhood." I tell him while squeezing his shoulder. He looks up to me and I see pure gratitude in his eyes, "So tell me a bit about yourself."

"Ah well I grew up outside of the kingdoms in a safe small town called Amsel. I grew up with my mom, my dad, and my seven sisters." At that I spit my water I was drinking all over his face. Around the room I hear the other guys are also in shock with Volk actually choking on his water.

"Seven sisters? How the fuck are you alive man?" I say in complete shock. And a bit of respect. Hey I was barely able to survive with two sisters, I couldn't even imagine seven sisters.

"Ah it wasn't easy I'll tell you that. And none of them wanted me to become a huntsman either. I literally had to escape from my house in order to get here." Maybe I was wrong about this kid. Truly he has balls of steel if he's able to run away from seven girls in order to follow his dreams.

"Well damn man. I was barely able to survive with two sisters. You have my complete and utter respect for surviving with seven sisters. I'm pretty sure you are a master of handling women aren't you. You must have tons of tips to help us pick up chicks man."

"Ahh actually not really. I'm still a virgin. Never even had a girlfriend" He said with a nervous look in his eyes as he scratched the back of his neck

"Eh? Yeah, that changes this weekend. We are going out and you! My man! You are getting laid." The rest of the guys whoop and holler in agreement. Yeah, we are going to have to ask Ozpin for an advance on that paycheck. "Friday, we are going shopping. You are coming with. Saturday, we are going out. Again. You comin' with. And you gonna be spiffy. A fine ass mothafucka! I will make you into such a good lookin man, the ladies will be out of their minds! Because Saturday Night Mothafucka! You are gonna be a man, or my name isn't Jack Fuckin Sparrow!"

"Your name isn't Jack Sparrow. Dumbass." Kopman responded throwing a towel at my face. Which I dodged. Pretty sure it ended up hitting Jaune.

"Oh go fuck yourself Kopman. Point is we getting them some coochie. Right Jaune?"

"Wait. What's coochie?" Jaune asked genuinely confused removing the towel from his face.

"Not important. Point is. We are going out and you are getting your dick wet."

"Ahh, I don't know guys. I don't think my team will appreciate me not hanging out with them. And I really want to go out with Weiss."

"Nonsense! Man, what you do even see in that girl? She hates you, us, hell! She hates anybody who's better than her. And we all are. So there! Give up on that fucked dream man. She's not worth your time. Focus on living yo life, getting laid, having fun. You gonna need that shit in this line of work! Also, we bringin ya homeslice, Ren. Yeah, this motha is taggin along. God knows, that boy needs to get some after dealing with that partner. She on some serious Flor'da Snow! Nevermind that shit though, not the point! None of that shit really matters, because Saturday, you become a man!" Volk sounds off. The rest of the team whoops and hollers in agreement, and bum rush Jaune. Everybody's getting all excited, telling him about how great it's going to be, and giving what advice they can give. The poor boy is bright red in the face and stressed the fuck out. But I can see it in his eyes. He wants to be like us. Loud mouthed, shit talkin, badass, Hooah shoutin, nail yo deadass to the wall Warriors. We'd make a soldier out of him yet.

After a couple of minutes Ren steps out of the shower in ACUs and the Army blouse, He actually cleans up nicely in ACUs and the shower seems to have done wonders to his energy. He seems to have regained some of his energy, but still slightly drags his shoes along the floor. Jaune takes that as his cue to take a shower and slowly drags his way into the shower.

"Alright Ren what's your story if you don't mind sharing." Kopman says looking at Ren.

"Ah can we talk about it another time? I'm not quite ready to talk about right now if that's okay" He says with a sad look in his eyes.

"Don't worry Ren you'll tell us when you are ready. No pressure here." Kopman says as he lays his hand on Ren's shoulder and gives it a squeeze before relaxing. "But one question. Are you banging that partner of yours? Like she's got a banging body! A little crazy for my tastes. But I ain't gonna judge. I'm sure she's wild in the sack."

"Oh gods no! She's a sister to me! And please don't talk about her like that." Ren deadpanned. Shit. Touchy subject. Kopman, why you put yo foot in yo mouth all the time.

"Fine. I'll respect that. I won't talk about her like that. I get it, you care about her. You guys got history I bet. Has she been fine with your girlfriends and girls you've slept with tho? Because she seems awfully clingy bro."

"Ah I've actually never had a girlfriend or slept with a woman before. I've never had time. I was too focused on training" Ren says with a slight blush on his face looking towards the ground and refusing to look us in the eye.

"Welp boys looks like two cherries are getting popped this Saturday!" Kopman says as he slaps Ren on the shoulder.

"What do you mean?" Ren asks looking confused and nervous.

"Oh well we are taking both you boys out Saturday and we are getting both of you laid. It'll be a great time. Trust us." Kopman says with a smile on his face. Fuck yea its going to be a great time.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea. I highly doubt Nora will let me go"

"Is she your Girlfriend?"

"No!"

"Then she can't tell you jackshit about what you can or can't do! Trust us it'll be a fun time!" Kopman says.

Eventually Ren agrees to go out with us on Friday and Saturday. We spend the rest of the time waiting for Jaune to get out the shower giving Ren tips on how to get a girl and how to have a very fun night with her. We have tons of fun sharing our stories of the girls we've slept with it. This is what being brothers is all about being comfortable talking about shit like this with each other. Although Volk was scaring the poor guy talking about some of the fetishes he's had to deal with. For some reason Volk attracts both Sadists and Masochists. He's just had that kind of luck, but we don't judge. Different strokes for different folks after all.

After a little while Jaune steps out of the shower looking less exhausted and cleaning up very well in ACUs, now all he needs is a haircut and he would be one of us.

Apparently my Pants were a little loose on him but he tightened the belt enough to fix that issue.

While the rest of us take showers we just exchange stupid stories about our pasts and talking about crazy exes. After another 30 minutes of talking about nonsense and the boys telling us more about their team. Apparently the Redhead is an actual celebrity, who knew, but that's actually really cool. We all decide to just wear the ACU pants and Army Blouse so we are all matching.

We all make our way down to the cafeteria and all heads turn to look at us. I guess six guys all matching in camo makes for a weird sight around here. The cafeteria is mostly empty however so we don't have too many people looking at us. But I see one girl with a beret and a handbag looking at us and shaking her head in disappointment. I guess she doesn't approve. Whatever fuck her opinion. All four of us head over to the buffett and see that there is tons of great food. Lasagna, Italian sausage, pizza, mostaccioli, and a wide variety of other Italian dishes. Well looks like it's going to be a carb heavy dinner. Good Ren and Jaune need it to have plenty of energy for tomorrow. We all load incredible amounts of food onto our plates and we see Ren and Jaune do the same. Good they need to bulk up a bit anyways. We all demolish our food and chug tons of soda down. Not exactly healthy and we should be drinking water, but fuck it we are going to enjoy ourselves a bit today. Jaune and Ren were hungrier than I thought and they were the first ones to finish their plates. Impressive usually no one beats Volk at eating. I look over to Volk and he look like he's in shock and then start eating faster. Jaune and Ren go up to grab seconds while Volk tries to catch up. Eventually after 40 minutes of eating we are all extremely full and on the verge of falling asleep from a food coma. After some convincing Jaune and Ren agree to join us in the morning for our PT session in the morning and head off to their dorm to spend the rest of the evening with their teammates and bid us a good day.

As soon as they leave Kopman turns to the rest of us, "Alright boys let's go have a talk with Oz about out pay and Iron out the details to our agreement."


	13. Qrow

"Alright boys I already sent a message to Ozpin earlier that we wanted to talk, so he should be expecting us." Kopman says as we all ride the long elevator up towards Ozpin's office.

We all wait patiently for the incredibly long elevator ride to end. Seriously either get a faster elevator or a shorter tower man, even been on faster school elevators in high school and those were only for the disabled kids. Broke my leg that year playing Football for my high school during my sophomore year on JV and had to spend the whole semester using that slow as elevator, gave me a righteous hatred for slow elevators. So as you can imagine I'm not exactly enjoying this ride up too much.

Eventually we make it to the top of the tower and as the doors of the elevator we see that Ozpin isn't alone. Next to him is a man with a badass sword on his back with a small red cape and overall a badass vibe

"Ah gentlemen. Perfect timing I was just discussing with my companion, Qrow here, about recent Fang activity, so we will be able to handle two issues while you are here. Ah where are my manners! This is Qrow Branwen one of my most trusted Agents." At that Qrow gives us a head nod and whips out a flask and takes a swig. Well looks like I won't have to learn how to distill my own moonshine! "Qrow these are the Soldiers I was telling you about earlier. From the other world that will be assisting us in eliminating the Fang threat." Pointing to each one of us as he goes, "Team METC Led by Michael Kopman with members Efrain Frias, Timothy Volk, and Caleb Newlin" We all give a head nod back towards Qrow as Ozpin introduces us.

"So you guys are the anti-terrorist specialists, I hope you guys are up to the task because we have a missio-", Qrow starts with a slight drunken slur before he is interrupted by Ozpin.

"Qrow all in good time! First I believe you came here for a purpose?" Ozpin states while taking a sip of his coffee and quirking an eyebrow.

"Yes. We would like to clarify the details of our agreement and get it all in writing." Kopman states looking Ozpin straight in the eyes.

"Ah yes I suppose that would be a bright idea. Why don't we iron out exactly what our agreement is shall we?"

"Yes that would be Idea sir"

"Well then we will give you free food, free housing and accessories, free education, and a salary. In return you take care of our terrorist threat seems rather straightforward to me where is the need for clarity?"

"Well we would like to know how much we are getting paid, how often, and how long our services will be needed"

"Ah I see. I assumed that Glynda would have handled that already. We are offering to pay you each 1,500 Lien each a month, pay would be distributed every other week to bank accounts that I'll have Glynda set up later. Now as for your service. How about five years and at the end of the five years we can renegotiate our contract?" Ozpin says quirking his eyebrow looking at us in interest. Thanks to our earlier discussions with Jaune and Ren we found out the one Lien is roughly the same value as one USD (United States Dollar), which was rather convenient. So roughly we would be getting an 18,000 a year salary, which wasn't impressive.

However we would be getting free housing, food, and we don't have to pay bills so we can spend that money however we wish. Plus if that music idea works out well then we won't exactly be strapped for cash. This would tide us well for now. Kopman looks at us all with a questioning gaze as if asking if this would be good enough. We all nod in agreement.

"We agree with all of it on two conditions. First being that we get that in writing and that we both sign the agreement within this week. Second being that we get an advance on that first payment in cash. Preferably within the next couple of days."

Nodding along Ozpin says, "That's all reasonable I'll have Glynda draft the agreement so that we can get it signed by Thursday. And as towards the advance payment I can take care of that right now."

Saying that Ozpin reaches for something behind his desk and pulls out large stacks of what we recognize as being lein. Slowly he starts counting out the lien and puts it into 4 stacks of Lien and slides them over looking like a drug lord while doing it.

"There are 1000 Lien in each pile. 750 for your first paycheck and 250 as a welcome gift. You also won't need to worry about taxes. All Huntsman incomes are tax exempt."

"Thank you sir" We all say as we each reach for our own piles of Lien and start to stuff them into our pockets.

"Ah don't thank me yet we actually do have a mission for you as Qrow was mentioning it earlier. If you don't mind Qrow will give you a rundown of the mission." He says nodding to Qrow who was still drinking from his flask, impressive I think he can keep up with us at the bars. Qrow quickly shifts back into a concentrated and focused face.

"Yeah you guys have the mission of fucking up an outpost used by the White Fang. My sources tell me that one of the White fang lieutenants will be at this outpost for the duration of this week. Your job is to take down the outpost and either capture or kill this Lieutenant. We would prefer if you could capture the bastard, but if it looks like that isn't possible then take him down. We don't have numbers on how many White Fang members are in this outpost, but you can assume it's between 20 and 30 members. You will also have to deal with Grimm that are lurking in the woods. Normally we wouldn't consider attacking this position since we didn't have a team that could be spared and it was too much for one man. I might be able to do it, but I have another assignment to complete. You will leave on Wednesday at noon and will land two kilometers south of the outpost. There should be no civilians in the area so don't worry about civilian casualties. Consider this your first test. You can accomplish this however you wish, just don't be too loud we don't need the media being made aware of a war being fought in the shadows. Any questions?" Qrow asks looking at us.

"Yeah I have a question. What are the ranged capabilities of the enemy we will be fighting?" I ask.

"Mostly small arms fire such as pistols and assault rifles. Nothing too impressive except for whatever arsenal the Lieutenant has on himself. Be cautious of the Lieutenant he won't go down easy he will probably be the only one with an unlocked aura."

I nod my head in acceptance of the reply. Looking towards my teammates I look to see that there is one question that they do want to ask. So I'll ask it for them.

"One last question, Where is a good place to get hammered?" I ask Qrow with a straight face. As soon as I ask that question a devious smile spreads across Qrow's face.

"Oh I like these boys Ozzy" Qrow says as he looks over at Ozpin. Facing me he walks over to me and swings an arm around my shoulder, "Boys we are going to have a very good night. Follow me to the promised land" He says as he leads me over to the elevator. The rest of the guys follow me and Qrow to the elevator.

Behind me I hear Ozpin chuckling and sipping his coffee, "Don't forget you have class tomorrow boys." He says as the elevator door closes.

After a bit of walking we first do to our dorms to quickly leave most of our cash in our room bringing 200 lein each with us. Hey you never know when that extra cash will come in handy on a night out. After that Qrow leads us to the bullheads that fly between Vale and Beacon. Quickly hopping on a bullhead we get to Vale in about 10 minutes. As soon as we reach Vale we can't help but be blown away with how much the city looks like home. It feels just like any American big town or small city with clean wide streets and small shops everywhere. It's honestly a very pretty town and it seems like the nightlife still hasn't awakened. Well of course it's only 7 pm on a monday. Odds are any bar we go to tonight will be utterly empty.

"Alright boys I'm taking you to one of my favorite bars where the barmaids have the shortest skirts and the best drinks." Qrow says while smirking at us.

"I love you so much man that sounds like heaven" Volk says looking at Qrow like he is god himself. Qrow plays along and gives an over exaggerated bow.

"Well don't thank me yet boys. Let's separate the boys from the men tonight. What do you say?" As soon as he said that we all yell in agreement. After all we are soldiers, drinking is a lifestyle for us there's no way this guy can drink us under that table. Right?

Eventually we get to the bar that he was talking about called Sugar Skull. Hmm interesting name. We get inside and Qrow takes us to bar and we all sit down alongside him with me and Volk on one side with Kopman and Newlin on the other. All around we see a few barmaids in rather short skirts displaying long smooth legs in heels and a tight shirts enhancing their assets nicely. Attending to some of customers that are all so drinking right now. Hey we can't judge. Everyday is a good day to get drunk!

"Hey Reggie get us three bottles of Thunderskull whiskey and five shot glasses." Qrow says while throwing down a hundred lien bill to the older fit darker skinned bartender in usual bartender attire of a white dress shirt and black pants with the sleeves rolled up.

"Ah well if it isn't my favorite customer Qrow! Looks like you brought some drinking buddies this time. A rather young group of drinking buddies if you ask me." Reggie says as he looks at all of us with a suspicious look.

"Relax reggie they are a huntsman team that I work with. They just got paid too so you don't have to worry about any unpaid tabs." Qrow said with a smirk.

"Well that sounds great to me. Just don't kill the poor guys" Reggie says as he places the three bottles on the table alongside five shot glasses.

With that said Qrow grabs two of the bottles and I grab the other with the rest of the guys grabbing the shot glasses we make our way towards the back of the bar towards an empty booth.

"Alright boys let's separate the boys from the men." Qrow says as he pours out the first round of shots. Handing each one of us a shot of whiskey. As soon as we all get a shot we raise our shots up and give a mini toast and take the shot. I immediately get the bitter taste with slight burn down the back of my throat and a warm comfort in my stomach. Oh yeah that was just what I needed.

"So boys do you really think you can keep up with me" Qrow asks in a cocky ass manner. Oh this cocky motherfucker thinks we can't keep up with him? Oh hell nah it's on now.

"Fuck yeah we do!" Volk yells out.

"Well I guess we will find out if you boys can keep up with me." Qrow says as he starts pouring the next round of shots. We all quickly take the shots in hand and hammer them back like the pros we are.

Eventually we get 10 shots in and then things start getting a little foggy we are still hanging in there with this bastard Qrow. But I'm pretty sure 10 shots in under an hour is not a good for our livers. But we finished the three bottles so we need to get some more bottles to put the man in his place. Qrow seems to be rather impressed with us and even called us real men at shot seven, but we came to prove a point. Now I need to get one of those pretty ladies to get me some more booze to prove the bastard that we are the better drinkers.

"Heeyyyy Pretty lady! Over here!" I call out to one of the waitresses as she walks by. She is rather pretty with very fine curves long black hair and creamy white skin and wait are those cat ears on her head? Cool. She walks over to me after realizing she is the pretty lady I'm talking about when I nod at her repeatedly and fuck now my head can't stop nodding. I grab my hands to stop my head from making myself dizzy.

"What can I do for you gentlemen?", she says in a very sweet voice. Ah just like honey. Hmm Jack Daniels Honey whiskey would hit the damn spot right now.

"Ahhhh you see me and my good friends here have run into a big problem. These bottles are empty. Ma'am would you do us the favor of getting us two more bottles?" I say as smoothly as I can. Hey I'm buzzed not wasted. Which is pretty amazing now that I think about it I should be sloshed right about now.

"Ah sure sir that would be 60 Lien" She says with her sweet and smooth voice.

"Here's 75 keep the change sweetheart" I say giving her the Lein and give her my best attempt at a smooth smile. She just nods rapidly and rushes to get us our drinks.

"You smooth dog I knew I was going to like you." Qrow says beside me with an arm over my shoulder, "True men appreciate the skirts after all" He says like he's giving wise advice like buddha. Yep he's getting drunk I recognize the advice giving drunken phase from all my uncles at parties.

Soon the Barmaid comes back with the two bottles and leaves them on the table. Then gives me a kiss on the cheek and walks away with a good sway to her hips. Hell yeah I love this place. All the guys are going crazy like a bunch of elementary school kids when the lights go off.

Before they can really lose themselves Qrow pours the next round of shots and we all raise a toast to dat ass and hammer the shot back. We get five more shots into it before everything starts to get blurry.

*Beep Beep Beep*

*Warning lemon...kinda*

Ah fuck who's alarm is that and fucking hell what happened to my head. As I slowly open my eyes I remember I went drinking with the guys and got absolutely hammered. It was actually a relief. The first time I hadn't had a nightmare in months. Opening my eyes I find myself not in my dorm. Instead I find myself in a small room with Red curtains and white walls with a Black Rose etched on the wall. I feel something on my shoulder and nothing else on my body. I look to my shoulder and I see a small pale hand with manicured red nails. Well I guess I'm guessing I fucked who ever is under this blanket looking down I see that I am butt ass naked and that she took all the blankets, typical. Looking over towards the mass of blankets I see a pair of long creamy legs that look oddly familiar for some reason. Looking a little higher I see her very nice supple ass in plain view with no underwear. Well I guess I have to find out who this is. Slowly I start to remove her hand trying not to wake up who ever is under this mass of blankets.

That doesn't work because the action wakes her up immediately. Like a ninja she shot up out from under the blankets completely naked sitting up to look at me. The first thing I see is her rather well sized perky breasts with light pink hardened nipples and a tight and toned stomach. Then I see her face and It all comes back to me. Efrain you dog you fucked the Barmaid. Damn she's sexy and her cat ears just seem to make her hotter. Now what was her name. Then she speaks.

"Oh Efrain you're awake" Then she gets on her knees and crawls over to me and then whispers into my ear with her honey sweet voice, "You were amazing last night, how about you give me an even better morning"

Well if her body didn't get my soldier to stand at attention then that certainly did.

"Ah I'm sorry I don't remember much about last night not even your name, but I would love to be able to remember this morning" I say in the smoothest manner I can. It most likely didn't come out nearly as smooth as I would have wished but oh well. I wonder what happened to the rest of the guys.

"Don't worry honey we'll make plenty of memories together." She said to me. Well then….It's getting interesting…..


	14. Redemption

I guess she wasn't expecting the softer more passionate kiss, what, with our three hours or so of romping, but slowly she melts into the kiss grabbing my face rubbing her hands against my short and stubby 5 o'clock shadow. It isn't nearly full enough to be a true beard. While I run my hands through her long and luscious black hair occasionally rubbing against her cat ears which earns a moan into my mouth everytime. I can really get used to this. After a while I end the kiss and look her in the eyes.

"Hey I was wondering if you wanted to get a bite to eat right now. I know it's a little backwards to go out after sex instead of before, but what do you say?" I say while looking her right in her beautiful and exotic eyes that have captivated me. They held a warmth in them that drew me in. Made me feel wanted and cared for. It was like a tall glass of cold water as I boiled in the desert.

"I would love to do that honey" She says as she carasses my face and give me another short and sweet kiss, "Now let's go take a shower so we don't smell like sex when we get to the restaurant."

She takes my hand and leads me to the shower walking with a slight, but very noticeable limp. Well let's just say I couldn't help myself as she lathered herself in soap and I fucked her one more time against the wall of the shower. After a 40 minute shower we are finally clean and I get dressed up once again in my ACU pants, boots, belt, and that tight blouse. Emily takes her time dressing herself in a floral sundress that captures her curves and accentuates them really well. I almost wanted to bend her over her couch and fuck her doggystyle in that sundress, but I had some semblance of control and I was really hungry. While she was busy doing her hair and make-up I decided to check my scroll and the Lein I had. Checking my pockets I see I still have 110 Lien left plenty for a very nice lunch. I opened my scroll to see it's already one in the afternoon and to find about twenty-six text messages and seven missed calls. Oh great. Opening the call app I see three missed calls from Kopman, one missed call from Newlin, one missed call from Volk, and two missed calls from Goodwitch. Well if I'm already fucked might as well enjoy my time with Emily.

Who knows maybe we can actually build a relationship off of this? She seems nice enough. Never hurts to try after all. It's not like Yang wanted to actually start something with me or anything right? She was just being a caring comrade. Right? Looking through my messages I see the following; five messages from Kopman asking where I am and if I'm still alive apparently he doesn't remember anything from last night either. Three from Qrow telling me Good Job and that he's down to drink any day and any time with us. Four from Volk telling me that I better be banging a ten otherwise he is going to whip my ass for having to go to class and take notes for me. Eight from Jaune asking if we still have PT, Where we are because they can't find us for morning PT, what happened to us, If I'm ok, where I am, that class is starting, that he'll take notes for me, and then asking if we are going to work out today. Ah shit I had completely forgotten about Jaune and Ren. We missed PT and they woke up early for no goddamn reason, poor bastards. Then we have five messages from Glynda informing us about our new bank accounts and the contracts she wrote up in the first three messages. The last two she used to inform me that I have detention to serve on Saturday at noon until 4pm for ditching history class today. Fuck it, today was totally worth a four hour detention. Then one text from Yang. She asked if I was alright, and if I needed to talk. I guess she was worried when I didn't show up for class. Makes sense. She's a caring sister in arms. I would be worried if the idiots were acting strange too.

I shoot back texts to Kopman, Volk, Jaune, and Yang telling them I'm alright, and telling Volk I won the bet so pay up.

Sitting down on her couch, I play around on my scroll for a while and look through the App Store, seeing what apps I should probably download eventually. After about 20 minutes, and downloading a couple of games on the scroll, I set about playing and getting pretty into a racing game. After a few minutes of that, Emily finally steps out of the shower. I look up, and see her, utterly gorgeous, with long black curls framing her face, her cat ears poking out the top of her curly hair, ruby red lips, smokey black eyeshadow and a perfect creamy pale face to match the make up.

"Are you ready to go honey?" Emily asks me as she grabs a purse to bring along for the lunch date. Getting up, I walk to the door, and hold it open for her. She's wearing flats so the top of her head just reaches my jaw.

"Ready when you are my dear." I said, bending down to capture her ruby lips once more in a kiss. I pull away to see her look up at me with a slightly frustrated expression. I smile mischievously, and she simply grumbles and pulls out her lipstick to reapply it. I barely hold back a chuckle, of course she's upset that I messed up her makeup. Fuck it, I would be too. Knowing my sisters, it takes a while to apply. "Alright sweetheart. Lead the way! I'm not from Vale, so I don't know where's a good place to eat. I'll leave that to you." I said as we walked out into the world.

Getting out of the apartment room, I find myself in a rather Ghetto and rough apartment complex. Grabbing my arm and holding me close, she lead me away and out of the complex. Looking around, I saw that everyone here is Faunus. What made it better was that they were all looking at me in surprise and shock. I wonder why? Maybe this racism thing is worse than I thought. It's not abject poverty, but it does remind me a lot of certain parts of West side Chicago. I raised my hackles, and kept my eyes moving, head on a swivel. Eventually, we made it out of the complex, and started walking down the street, heading due north, in the direction of Beacon Academy. As we walked, I still hadn't seen a single human or police officer, all around are Faunus asleep in alleyways, drugged out, or digging through trash. The poor souls who are high as a kite are just sitting in the garbage piles. Out of their minds and staring at the sky.

Suddenly, I wasn't in Remnant. I was back in Afghanistan. I was back on patrol looking at Badih. One of the local orphans near the base. He would always come up to us, asking for candy, or just wanting to play games. He was a cute little kid. He stayed with his Uncle, an ANA Soldier. He was a bright spot in our deployment, always bringing a smile to our faces. I still have a picture with him in my personal belongings. What should have been a picture that brought happiness, only brought me to the verge of tears. One day, after a series of mortar attacks, we went out on patrol. I will never forget that day. Walking out to the village, among the rubble, I saw his broken little body. He was so cold, his lower body had been ripped from his upper body. The explosion had torn him in half. I was able to recognize him because his innocent face had remained untouched. It broke me inside.

For a second I saw Badih sitting down on the ground in front of me. I almost broke down in tears. I closed my eyes, trying to fight back the tears. They snapped open again. It wasn't Badih. It was a little faunus girl, no older than five years old, with messy and wild black hair, two cute little cat ears peeking out of her matted hair, and a dirty face, marred by tear streaks. She was dressed in what couldn't even be called rags. She was sitting down, on the ground begging for money.

Emily, seeing where I stopped, spoke up. "You can't save them all. It pains me to see this, but I can barely support myself I'm in no shape to help anyone, and she is one of thousands in this city. Helping one won't make any difference in the grand scheme of things. I'm glad you care, but there's nothing you can do for her." Emily says looking into my eyes, her own tearing up.

I returned her gaze, and after steeling myself, spoke. "That's where you are wrong. I CAN make a difference. Maybe not in the grand scheme of things. BUT I can help this one poor child, and that's worth it to me."

She looks down, and nods silently. With that, I approached the little girl. As I did, the little girl looked up at me, a broken look in her eyes. With the most broken and scared voice I have ever heard, she asked me, "Pwease spare some Wien, I'm hungwy." That statement alone made me want to wreck shit, fuck it, storm heaven and hell, if for nothing else, than to help this poor child.

In the softest and most caring voice I can muster, I ask, "Hey sweetie. How long has it been since you ate?" Slowly getting closer, as to not startle the obviously terrified child. With tears streaming down her face, she lifts her hands and puts up six small and thin fingers.

"Six days sweetie?" I asked, barely keeping my anger in check. I was fucking pissed off, but I didn't want to scare the poor child. Nervously, she nodded her head, as tears kept streaming down her skinny, frail face. She is obviously malnourished. There's no way she is surviving on the streets for too long. Goddamn.

"What's your name sweetheart?" I asked. After a couple of seconds, she answered, in the same fearful, broken voice. "I-I don't have one mistew."

What. The. Fuck. What kind of child doesn't have a name? And what kind of city doesn't have child services to protect and feed these children? What kind of fucked up kingdom is this? I was gonna PUT OZPIN TO THE FIRE FOR THIS! I looked over to Emily, and I saw her, standing in the same place, with a few tears running down her face.

"Where are your mommy and daddy sweetie?" I turn back to the girl. I hoped, praying to God, Buddha, the Shinto Deities, fuck it, even that dickwad Allah! I prayed that she wouldn't give that answer. That one God Forsaken answer that leaves no hope.

"I-I no have mommy ow daddy m-mistew." She replied, sobbing.

Fuck. GODDAMNIT! I steeled myself, breathing deeply, anything to calm down. I wanted to hunt down every fucking racist bastard in this Nation and kill them. Fucking kill them. They deserved it, for making this young child's life the hell that it was. I blinked away hot, angry tears, and looked at her. "Would you like to get something to eat sweetheart?" I asked. I was now inches away from the poor child, kneeling down next to her. She looks up with me, and for the first time, I see something in those eyes other than fear, and a broken, hurt child. I see a small amount of hope at the promise of food. I feel a tear run down my face. She nodded her head up and down so fast, I was honestly scared her head might've broken off her thin neck.

I look over my shoulder to Emily. She was still standing, although she had moved closer, and had full tear tracks down her face, a small smile on her lips. When we made eye contact, she nodded fiercely in agreement. Good, because I was talking the child to lunch with or without her. I wasn't going to leave another poor child to fade away. I couldn't save Badih, and that will forever haunt me, but I will save this poor child. I would make a positive difference, in at least one life.

"Okay sweetie, we are going to have to walk to get to the food. Can you walk like a big girl?" I asked gently. I'm not sure if she can walk, with how skinny and malnourished she looks.

"I no walk" She sputters out, bawling, as if her hopes and dreams of finally getting to eat have been shattered. Good job you dumb fuck, you made her cry! It's not her fault, her legs have probably atrophied from a lack of moving from that corner, coupled with a lack of nutrition, I'm honestly surprised that she can still move.

"Hey, hey, it's okay! Shhh. It's all okay" I said, caressing her small face, and wiping her tears away. "I can carry you. Is that okay sweetie?"

As soon as I say that she nods her head and leans towards me. Her hands outstretched, just like any kid that wants to get carried. Leaning down, I carefully picked her up as she whimpers in slight pain, probably from being in the same position. She is way too light. I'm beyond reason at this point. Just try and be racist around me! I'll fucking gut anybody who is retarded enough to act out around me! As soon as I had her in my left arm, she wrapped her bony arms around my neck, and hid her face into the crook of my neck. Through the rags, I could feel her ribs, and her legs were like skin and bones. Poor baby wouldn't have lasted a couple more days out here. She shook hard as I carried her, most likely from a combination of Cold and Excitement at the prospect of a meal. As soon as I stood up and walked away from the corner, Emily came up to me and attached herself to my right arm. Taking extra care to make sure I didn't jostle the child, and cause her any more pain.

"This is incredibly sweet of you. I've never seen a human do this for a faunus child." Emily whispered into my ear.

"Well, then the Humans of this kingdom had better not show their sorry faces near me right about now. It could get ugly." I respond back to her. She hesitantly nodded. After walking for several minutes, I saw every Faunus stop to stare at us. It must've been really bad if it was really that weird to see a human with a Faunus woman and a Faunus child? Finally, after a mostly quiet walk we get to a rather nice restaurant. At the smell of the food, the child in my arms perked her head right on up, her Faunus ears perking up as well. It was adorable. The Human at the front looked at the child, and opened his stupid face. Big mistake boo boo motherfucker.

"Sir, we don't allow Faunus in he-" he spoke. I didn't give his sorry ass a chance to finish. With my free arm I grabbed him by his collar and pulled him close enough that I could whisper in his ear so that Emily and Sophia didn't have to hear what I was about to say.

"Listen here you needledick motherfucker. We are going to sit down and you are going to serve us a nice meal and we will pay for it. Then we can go our separate ways, but if you don't serve us or if I see once speck of spit in our food I swear to God almighty that I will curbstomp your face and then skull fuck you. In that order. Do you understand Needledick?" I asked him in my deadly serious voice. Feeling him nod in approval and a heavy dose of fear I let him go and give the man a pat on the back as he leads us towards our booth which pleases me. If there's one thing a kid likes, it's a restaurant booth. Trust me, I know. I'm still a kid at heart.

I sat on one side, with the child sitting in my lap since she can't see over the table without a booster seat, and I didn't want to push my luck. The restaurant is apparently Remnants equivalent of an Italian restaurant. It's rather nice actually, and the prices were fair, I noted as I looked over the menu. I had to help the child in my lap drink her water, because she didn't have the strength to lift the glass to her face. She started to chug the water, but I stopped her, because I knew that if she drank or ate too much, with her tiny, malnourished stomach, further problems would arise. "Easy sweetie, take your time. The water isn't going anywhere. Drink and eat as slowly as you can okay?" I asked her as I gently rubbed her cat ears, getting a soft "Okay." and a slight purr. When the waiter came by for our orders, Emily ordered a chicken alfredo to eat and an everybody loves grapes to drink. I ordered Chicken tenders and fries for the little one, and for myself, ordered a Chicken parmesan and an Italian sausage. I decided that me and the little one are fine with water for now. As we waited for the food to come, me and Emily started talking about ourselves, and just getting to know each other better. Apparently, she was studying to be a nurse at the local university, and was using her night job to pay for her schooling. The next semester started two weeks from then, which is why she was able to spend today with me. However, she did have to go back to work later that day. Her family lived back in Menagerie, but she came to study here because Menagerie didn't have a university. All the while we are talking, I'm slowly helping the little one drink some of the water from her glass. As Emily was telling me all about the struggles of having 0800 analytical chemistry, our food arrived. Looking down, I saw the little one's eyes grow to the size of the dinner plates themselves, she couldn't believe the amount of food before her. Quickly, I went to work on her plate, and cut everything down to small, bite sized pieces, and squirted some ketchup on the corner of the plate. I picked up a fork, and grabbed one of the pieces of chicken tender. I blew on it a little to cool it down, and then dipped it in ketchup, bringing it to the little one. She attacked the fork and took the whole piece into her mouth, chewing on it fast. After she swallowed, she began to tear up.

"Oh no, sweetie, why are you crying?" I asked her, looking down at the poor thing.

"T-tank you s-so much mistew. No one is n-nice to me. But you nice to me. D-don't make me go bawk." She sputtered out, turned herself, and cried into my shirt, trying to bury herself into me.

"Oh sweetie. I'm not going to leave you on the streets anymore." I say as I softly run my hands through her matted hair. Damn straight. I'm not leaving her out here. She's coming back with me, to Beacon, and if Ozpin has a problem with it, he can shove his opinions, right up his puckered dry asshole. If he wants me, then he has to accept this child too! I know my team won't object, they are just as soft hearted when it comes to kids as I am. After a couple of minutes of her crying and me reassuring her, we got back to our meal, both me and Emily took turns feeding her while we also ate our meals. Eventually, me and Emily continued our conversation, where I revealed to her that I was part of a huntsman team, training at Beacon. She told me that she figured I was a huntsman, not only because I was with Qrow, one of the most famous huntsman in Remnant, but because of my little discussion with the racist bastard. I laughed at that last comment. I meant every word I said to him. What can I say, you get to be as fucked up as I am, strange shit happens. I told her most of my fabricated backstory, as well as a few real stories about my sisters and family. She also told me about life on Menagerie, how cramped it may be, but how beautiful the Island is all in all. Eventually, after finishing one and a half chicken tenders and a handful of french fries, the little one was full, having fallen asleep in my lap.

"You know, you'll make an amazing father." Emily told me with a smirk on her face. I couldn't deny it. I helped raise many of my baby cousins, because being part of a Mexican family, well, it means a bucketload of cousins. So I learned I was good father material at a young age. That doesn't necessarily mean that I was ready to be a father. But looking at the child in my lap, I couldn't help but admit that I didn't have a choice, because I knew it in my soul, I was gonna adopt this child, if for anything else than to keep her safe."I wouldn't mind helping if you need the help. I think we can try to make this a longer term thing rather than a one night stand." Emily said to me as she stared at us.

"That sounds amazing to me Emily." I replied, thinking about all the crazy stuff this kid had to deal with, and how that was all coming to an end. "Here, let me give you my Scroll number and info." I stated as I handed my scroll to her. She quickly put all her info into the contacts section, and even took a quick selfie for a profile picture. Eventually, the waiter came back with the bill. Looking it over, it comes out even, 55 Lien for the whole meal. Not bad at all for three meals. I added a 10 Lien tip, and asked for a box for the little one's leftovers. Once the waiter brought back the box, we got up and walked to the door, being extra careful to not wake up the little one. We walk by the front, and whatd'ya know, the same guy from before is back. I wave to him on my way out. "So long Asshole!" I swear, I saw the exact moment his asshole puckered. I held the door open with my free hand, and Emily exited. As soon as we got outside, Emily planted a long and sweet kiss on my lips, and whispered into my ear, "Don't forget to text me back honey~" That done, Emily turned and headed back to her apartment, working her hips. Goddamn! Fine as fuck right there. I pulled out my scroll, and got the directions to the Beacon Shuttle. Once I got this worlds version of Siri working, I headed back towards Beacon Academy, the sleeping child in my arms.


	15. Sweet Child o'mine

Walking towards the Beacon Shuttle Station, the child in my arms, I couldn't help but notice all the looks I was getting from people. I paid them no mind. Just try and walk up on me. I can and will repeat Mr. Chucklefuck's treatment! After walking for a little while longer, cautiously making sure I didn't wake up the child, we arrived at the Shuttle Station. Looking over to the small parking lot for Beacon Students and Faculty, I saw the Humvee. It appeared that they managed to get the Humvee down here while I was with Emily. I walked over to one of the Shuttles after flashing them my Beacon scroll at the gate, getting a few looks from the guards, which I returned with Fury. Honestly, these people had shitty security. Didn't even search me, stop me, ask me a question, just let me on by? Did these guys even care about their jobs? Jesus. Just another addition to my long list of grievances. I will be having a none too small amount of words with Ozpin over the situation in the Faunus Ghetto. How could a modern society let shit like this happen to children, right under their nose? No wonder the White Fang turned to Terrorism, forced to live in such conditions. It's a wonder they haven't burnt the Main City of Vale to the ground! Seriously, if Ozpin does nothing else, than at least try and change the living conditions of the Faunus children like this one, he would fight his war against the White Fang alone. I would rather a see a city that allows such things to happen burn to the ground than defend it.

I was gonna give Ozpin a piece of my mind. Fuck it, a whole serving of it! But that shit's only happening after taking the poor kid to Mallaurie for a medical evaluation. I'm sure there is plenty that this child needs, especially due to the malnutrition and atrophy in her legs.

Looking down at the poor child, asleep in my arms, I can't help but hate this Kingdom with all my heart. How can these people be so heartless, to allow this to happen to children? This better not be the same in all of the so called Kingdoms. Opening my scroll up, I searched for Mallaurie's contact information, the School Faculty's info having already been installed. I sent her a text, telling her to meet me at the Medical station, as well as a text to Emily so that she would have my number as well.

After a few minutes on the shuttle, we finally touched down at Beacon Academy. The hatches opened, and I climbed out, speed walking to the Medical station. As I walked, I noticed the large groups of students milling around. Classes had most likely been dismissed for the day. As I walked, almost every student stopped to stare at me. I couldn't really blame them. I doubt seeing a student walking on campus, a small, dirty, faunus child, asleep in his arms was not a common sight. After taking a couple of minutes to find my way, I arrived at the station. Walking into her office, I saw Mallaurie's back. Oh god. I forgot how nice her ass is in that tight skirt! And was her hair down? It's rather nice like that. Having heard me enter, she turned, her beautiful pink hair caressing her face wonderfully. HOLD UP! I was with Emily now! Besides, I had more important things to worry about right about now. Having turned to face me, she smiled at seeing me. However, her eyes immediately turned to concern when she sees the child in my arms. "What happened? Who is this?" Mallaurie questioned as she hurriedly walked up to me, trying to get a better look at the poor child.

"I found her begging for money on the street in Vale. She's desperately malnourished and I think her legs have atrophied. I'm taking her in. She won't survive any longer out in that fucked up city. I came here to see if there's anything you can do to help her, and if there is anything I can do to help her." I said, looking straight into Mallaurie's pretty pink eyes. She walked up to me, and rested a hand on my shoulder.

"That's very kind of you Frias, but are you sure that you can take care of a child while going to classes and taking missions?" She asked, her voice filled with concern. She made a valid point. It was gonna be hard! But there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that I would let this child go back to the streets.

"I'll do whatever it takes to help this child." I replied. There was no hesitation in my answer. There was only brutal honesty and sincerity. This was my redemption, I would not let it slip through my hands.

"Ok. I will do what I can to help this child. If you could place her on the table and wake her up please." She requested, walking to her desk and typing information into her computer.

While she was doing whatever it is she was doing, I walked over to the bed, and started to try and wake the small child up. "Hey, wake up sweetie." I whispered into her ear as I gently shook her in my arms. After some moans and squeaks, she finally woke up, and lifted her head up from the crook of my neck. She looked up to me with her big, wide, golden eyes, like she couldn't believe that I was real. She touched my face with her tiny hands, and then started crying when she realized that was indeed real, and not a hunger induced dream. She buried her face once more into my shirt, no doubt leaving tears and snot all over my blouse. "It's okay sweetie. You're okay. I'm here." I whispered into her cat ears as I gently patted and rubbed her back, trying to comfort her. Eventually, she stopped crying, and lifted her teary eyed face back up. "Okay sweetie, can you be a big strong girl for me? This nice doctor is going to help you, and I need to have you sit on this bed. Can you be brave for me and sit still for her?" I asked her in a slow, calm, and reassuring voice. When she nodded, I carefully lowered her from my arms and put her on the table, but she refuses to let go of my shirt. "Okay sweetie, can you let go of my shirt. How about I hold your hand instead?" I asked her gently. She slowly let go of my shirt and I enveloped her tiny hand with my own. It looked silly, but it comforted her greatly, and she became very relaxed. I looked over to Mallaurie, sitting at her desk, having prepared for the examination, a smile on her face and tears in the corners of her eyes. It was good to see that she wasn't racist and actually had a heart. With her scroll in her hands, she slowly walked up to the child, and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Okay sweetheart. I need to ask you some questions if that's okay." Mallaurie asked in her soft and musical voice. At the question, the little one shyly turned to look at Mallaurie, giving her a small nod. "Okay sweetheart, do you know your name?" Mallaurie asked. The child gently shook her head no. "Okay. That's fine honey. Do you know your mommy or daddy?" Once again, the girl shook her head. "Do you know how old you are?" Once again, another no. Mallaurie looked up at me, and spoke. "Sadly, this isn't uncommon. Many Faunus don't go to a doctor so many children are never registered at birth. As far as the Kingdom of Vale knows, she doesn't exist. I'm assuming you want to take over as her Guardian?" Without any hesitation, I nodded my head yes. "Okay then. I guess you get to name her and give her a birthday." That stopped me in my tracks. I never thought about naming a child before. Damn, what should I name her? Looking down at her, I knew I had to give her a nice cute name, but what would work? After a moment of thought, I made up my mind! Looking down at the little one, I asked, "Hey sweetie. How do you like the name Sophia?"

Hearing the name, she nodded her head. Well then. Sophia it is. Looking towards Mallaurie, I nodded. "Her name will be S-o-p-h-i-a F-r-i-a-s, and give her the same birthday as me." At that, Peach nodded, and wrote it all down.

"Well congratulations! You are now a father! Now the problem is going to be her age. I would guess she's around four or five years old….Ummm…. Let's go with the younger. She is without a doubt small for her age due to malnutrition." I nodded my head in agreement. Peach smiled, and wrote something down on Sophia's file. "Okay, now we have to measure her height and weight." She walked over to her desk and grabbed a measuring tape. "Okay. Now lay her down, straight out. She won't be able to stand for the machine." Gently, I lay Sophia down, and after a few heart jerking moans of pain, gently straighten her legs out. Measuring her, Mallaurie get her height. 89 cm (2ft11in). "Okay. Now if you can bring her over to the scale, and just sit her down on it." Mallaurie asked me after noting her height. Carefully, I picked up Sophia up from the bed, and brought her over to the scale, setting her down on it. After a moment, the scale beeps, and I picked her up. The scale read her weight at 9.5 kg (21 pounds). Dangerously light. Bringing her back over to the bed, I set her down and held her hand. "Okay. Now I'll have the bed scan her body. You can keep holding her hand, but keep both of your eyes closed during the process." She stated as she walked out of the room to run the scan. Looking down at my daughter, I could see Sophia laying down on the bed in mild discomfort.

"Keep your eyes closed sweetie. I'll tell you when to open them back up." I whispered to her. She nodded her head and closed her eyes. I did the same until I heard Peach re-enter the room. Mallaurie looked at her scroll for a moment, then looked back at me.

"Well her legs have definitely atrophied. She also has a series of deep tissue bruises along her legs and back. Her arms suffer from slight muscle atrophy, but some more movement and a healthy diet should heal that on its own. She also has a slightly bloated stomach, but that's normal with starvation. She has an extremely weak immune system and can easily get sick, with how her body is right now she might not be able to fight off a simple illness. So we need to get her into a healthy situation as soon as possible. I'll write down a list of vitamins that you can get from any drugstore, along with nutritional shakes that will help her immensely. Make sure she is cleaned on a daily basis and make sure her ears stay clean to prevent any sort of infection. Almost anything at this stage would be extremely hazardous if not fatal. Keep her warm too. When you have a chance buy her plenty of warm clothes. She doesn't have much muscle or fat to keep her at homeostasis, so extra clothing will have to substitute. The reason for her shaking is because the poor child is freezing. Now for her legs, everyday I'll need you to stimulate them twice a day. That means stretching them out and massaging them. This will cause her pain at the beginning, but its for her own good. It's the only way she is going to get better. Once she's at a stable weight, we can begin some therapy so that she can regain her ability to walk. She will also need a large series of shots that will be administered, but I don't have any of them currently here. So next week, we will start a long series of injections that will last the course of the week. Sadly, her growth will undoubtedly be stunted due to the malnutrition and atrophy. That's a worry for far in the future. For now, just buy what's on this list and give this poor girl the bath that she desperately needs. And as far as the Kingdom of Vale is concerned, you are now her father." Mallaurie says as she gives me the list of medicine, as well as the legal papers she printed out. With that, she sent me on my way.

I put the paperwork in my pocket, grabbed the leftovers from the restaurant, and with Sophia in my arms, and made my way out of the Medical Bay. I exited the building, and headed to the dorms. Along the way, I ran into the black haired, golden eyed girl from Team RWBY. Blake I think her name was. She saw me, and for some reason, turned into a statue, with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. She turned and sprinted down the path, back towards the dorms. Well then. Wonder what got her knickers in a bunch. Eventually, I made it back to my dorm room. On the other side of the door, I heard what sounded like Grunt's doing Grunt stuff: Stupid and random shit. I wasn't disappointed. Opening the door, it was quite the scene. Kopman was taped to the wall, a gag in his mouth and murder in his eyes. Volk had his left eyebrow burned off. Jaune was in a dress, sporting a new haircut that looked a lot like Thor's new haircut in Ragnarok. Pretty badass. Newlin was also in a dress, but also had lipstick on. He was winning that game of gay chicken. Ren was shirtless and has a tattoo on his shoulder of a lightning boll, also rocking the same haircut as Jaune. "What the fuck did I miss?" Oh shit, I probably shouldn't swear around a child….You know what, scratch that. The kid is going to be raised by infantrymen. She is going to be swearing like Staff Sergeant in no time. As soon as I voiced that question, the idiots turned to look at me. Then Sophia. Back to me. Back to Sophia. This happens a few times, until Volk stupidly opened his face.

"Did you kidnap a child?" He deadpanned, looking at me with a completely straight face that he somehow managed to make him look more stupid than he already was.

*sigh* This man….is a fucking idiot…. "No, Volk, you dumb fuck. I didn't kidnap a child. Long story short, say hi to my daughter: Sophia Frias."

As soon as I said "daughter", all the guys froze up, and Newlin raised a salute. The other three idiots not taped to a wall saluted me as well.

"Why are you fucking saluting me?" I asked, contemplating who to punch first.

"We always salute a fallen soldier.", Volk said as he lowered the salute, "So you married the girl you fucked, and now you have a step child huh?"

….I sometimes wonder how this idiot graduated Kindergarten. "No, you retard. This poor kid was starving on the streets begging. She's an orphan, and they don't have child services here. She reminded me of Badih. I couldn't possibly leave her on the streets, so I adopted her." At, the guys nodded, and murmured their support to my decision. Volk walked up to me, and shook my hand.

"Good shit man. We'll help any way we can! Right guys? For Badih. We will never forget that kid." All the other guys nodded in agreement. Even Kopman, still taped to the wall.

"Alright! Well, I'm going to give her a bath, and after I need to go and buy her a bunch of stuff from Vale. I also need to bitch Ozpin out for the fucked up shit I saw in Vale. I'll ask what's going on here later." I reply, heading towards the bathroom.

"Alright man! We'll clean up, and then head into town with you. Help you buy the stuff you need for Sophia, and chill out." Newlin said as he rested his hand on my shoulder.

Nodding my head in thanks, I made my way into the bathroom, and closed the door. I left the leftovers next to the sink. Kneeling down next to the tub, I set sophia down on the ground. Reaching to the leftovers, I give her a few more chunks of the slightly cold chicken tenders to much on, while I started filling the tub with warm water. After a couple of minutes, and one full Sophia later, the bathtub is half full of warm water. I take my shirt off, because from my experience having to give my cousin's baths, there is no way to bathe a small child without getting wet. Reaching over to Sophia, I peeled her dirty rags off of her body, revealing a bloated stomach and various bruises all over her tiny body. Gently reaching to her, I lifted her into the water, and set her down. The warm water did wonders for her, as she relaxed into the warm water almost immediately. I guess Mallaurie and I were right. She was really cold. I let her relax into the warm water for a couple of minutes, and let her play with the water a bit. It brings a smile to my face, seeing her actually smile as she played with the warm water.

Eventually, I decided that I needed to start cleaning her. I started with her hair, and while covering her eyes to prevent water from getting into them, I poured water over her head to wet her hair. Looking at the water, I noticed that it had already turned murky from all the filth coming off of her. I pulled the drain, and waited for all the water to drain out, leaving her a wet, shaking mess in the tub. "Sorry sweetie, just hang on. I'm getting more warm water." Having said that, I started to fill the tub once more with warm water. As soon as she came back in contact with the warm water, she stopped shaking. With the now clean water, I started to shampoo her rat nest that she had for hair. I ended up pulling quite a few dead leaves and twigs out of her hair. Eventually, after enough shampoo and plenty of rinses, I got her hair to its natural straight and sleek state. Surprisingly, I found that her natural hair color isn't black, but actually Violet in color. Her hair is rather long as well, reaching to her ankles. Guess she'll need a haircut too.

With the water murky and oily once more, I drained and refilled it, much to Sophia's disappointment. With her hair clean, I carefully washed her body, making sure to be extra cautious not to aggravate her bruises. Eventually, after 20 or so minutes of cleaning, she was spotless and happy. I wrapped her up in a warm and fluffy towel and took some time to brush her hair, straightening it out rather nicely. While I brushed her hair, Sophia snacked on some more of that chicken. I didn't have anything to put her hair into a ponytail or braid, so we had to deal with the long hair. Now I just needed something for her to wear while we go shopping. I wasn't about to make her wear the rags she came in. I already tossed them into the trash can. Eh, I can just wrap her up in my shirt. That should do for now.

Putting her head through the neck hole, I tied the bottom of the shirt closed so it looked like a sleeping bag. With some duct tape we have in the bathroom, I taped the opening of the shirt in a way that it wouldn't slip off her body. With that done, I picked Sophia up and headed out of the restroom. "Alright you glorious bastards! Let's go shopping!" I announced at the rooms inhabitants. Dear lord. What did I miss yet again? Volk was clutching his stomach, Kopman was tearing up in laughter, his face red, and some tape still attached to his body. Newlin had managed to unfuck himself, and was back in his ACUs. Ren was nude from the waist down, wearing one of our Army blouses, and Jaune was absolutely killing it in his Beacon academy uniform. Newlin looked up, and tossed a blouse at me, and some trousers and boots at Ren.

"Here! I'm pretty sure these stores have a no shoes, no shirt, no service policy."

Setting Sophia on my bed gently, I put the blouse on and then hefted her back into my arms. I grabbed a bunch of lien from my drawer, and walked to the door, opening it. Lucky me, I walk, or should I say dive, right into Yang's little friends. My life. What. The. Fuck.


	16. Mama Yang

Quickly taking a step back automatically, I handed Sophia off to Kopman, who held her. I raised my arm, and took a defensive stance. "Back away from the door! Now!" I stated passive-aggressively.

"Whoah there man! What's the deal?." Yang said, backing her way into the hall. "Efrain, what's going on?"

"It's Frias." I deadpanned. "What's your deal? If you have nothing, me and my Battle Buddies will be on our way." At that, the rest of the guys formed up behind me. Kopman holding Sophia protectively. "You got beef with me? You deal with us. So come on. Open your mouth. Let's see what ya gotta say."

Yang looked at me aghast. "Whoah. Frias. What's the deal man? I thought we were cool." Yang honestly looked hurt. I decided to give her the benefit of a doubt.

"Unless you can prove to me without a doubt that you don't judge my daughter because of her Faunus Traits, we're through." I replied. Yang nodded knowingly.

"Oh. I get it. Yeah no, me and Ruby got nothing against the Faunus. Some of our best friends back at Signal were Faunus. I can't speak for the rest of my team, but me and Ruby are with you all the way." Yang replied, smiling at Sophia, who shyly tucked her face into Kopman's shoulder.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. Honestly." I smiled as well, stepping aside. "You and Ruby can come in, the rest are out until I am one hundred percent sure that they won't hurt my child."

Yang nodded, and both Ruby and herself entered the room. Before the Albino Ice Bitch could complain, I shut the door in her face. While Ruby went directly to Sophia to say hi, Yang dragged me into the bathroom, and shut the door. "So, explain to me this. Where did you all of a sudden get a daughter from? Did she survive and come with you, and we're only seeing her now?" She interrogated.

I shook my head. "I picked her up off the streets in Ghetto Vale. She was going to die if I didn't take her in. She was starving and hurt. I'm just doing what any decent person should do when they see a starving, scared, hurt child." I defended.

"I'm not saying taking her in is wrong. I'm just saying that YOU taking care of her is not a good idea. I can have my dad take care of her if you want. She needs a stable home environment. You are anything but stable right now. If anything, you might need counselling. All of you should. You can't possible be okay after losing everything."

"I am legally her father. I won't have another man raise MY child." I said.

"Goddamnit Frias! Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn. Fine! If you want to raise her here, fine. But I will be here every step of the way to make sure you don't fuck up." She announced, stomping her foot down. "Now. Where were you last night that caused the rest of your team to show up to class reeking of booze?"

I shook my head. This is chick was nuts. And I needed help? Get a straight jacket and some Ketamine for this child. And a fire extinguisher. She tends to light herself on fire. I decided after that disappointing mental conversation, I was gonna answer her question. "Well, you see, Ozpin introduced us to this guy name Qrow. Pretty awesome guy. He took us out to the bars, and it got kinda hazy after that. Don't remember much after the third bottle of whiskey." Yang was all up in my space after that one, and I mean way up in here.

"Qrow? As in tall, scraggly, black hair, red cape, constantly drunk Qrow." She questioned dangerously.

"Yeah. That's pretty accurate. He's pretty cool. You know him? I heard he's pretty popular." I replied hesitantly, gently pushing her away and backing up a step.

"Of course I know him. He's my uncle. Goddamnit, he's in town and he hasn't come to say hi. The bastard was even on fucking campus!" She fumed, an intense look in her eyes.

"Yeah? Well you can go deal with Qrow. I have to go shopping. Ya know, buy clothes and medicine for MY daughter." I said as I made my way towards the door.

"Hold up. Shopping? There is no way in hell I'm going to trust you to dress our child." Yang screeched. Wait what?

"Our?" I had to ask, my face devoid of all emotion. At that moment, taking my Ka-Bar and eating it seemed like a really good idea. As did popping my M9 off into my temple.

"Yes OUR child. She is going to need a strong female role model in her life. More importantly she needs a mom. I raised Ruby. I can raise another. Now don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean we are in a relationship. That is the last thing you need. You need to take care of yourself first. I'll allow this to slide, because the poor kid obviously needs a caring home. I love that you have a huge heart, but you need to focus on yourself right now."

"Wait. So you want to be her mom?" I ask utterly confused and slightly terrified. Terrified in the fact that I don't want to see what will happen when she finds out I'm in a relationship now.

"Yep! That little fluff out there might as well call me Mama Yang from now on." Oh yeah. That Ka-Bar on my side looked real fucking tasty. Let me just have a quick bite…"Let's go then" Yang said, taking a step out of the bathroom into the chaos in the room. Nora was crying over Ren's loss of hair and Pyrrha seemed to be losing her mind over Jaune's new looks. Ruby seemed to be going crazy over an M9 Beretta who someone let her hold. Volk. While Weiss seemed to be in a stare down with Newlin. While Kopman was trying, and failing, to hit on Blake.

"Come on Blakey we got some shopping to do. I'll see all of you later. Don't worry he didn't kidnap her." Yang says a she grabs Blake by the collar and starts dragging her away from the group. The rest of the group looked at me for answers. Except for Weiss and Newlin stuck in their intense staredown.

All I could do was shrug and say, "I got to go shopping for my daughter. I guess Blake and Yang are tagging along.

"Aight cool. We are a little busy here at the moment so here's some cash from us." Kopman said passing over 300 lein and Sophia. "Make sure the kid gets what she needs. For Badih."

"For Badih." I reply giving him a one armed bro hug before following after Yang and Blake.

After speed walking to catch up to Yang we awkwardly walk in silence to the air docks. When we get there Blake turns to me and asks me with her usual deadpan ass voice, "So you didn't kidnap this Faunus child?"

"No. Not at all. I adopted her. She's my daughter." I answered as I carefully moved Sophia over to my right arm to give my left one a break. She might be light, but having to keep your arm in one position for too long causes it to tire a bit.

"Why?" She asks.

"Because he's an idiot who doesn't think things through. But he's an idiot with a good heart. The kid wasn't going to make it on the streets so he took her in. It's stupid, but he's dead set on raising the child as his. So I'm going to help make sure he doesn't fuck up and so that she can have a mom. I know what it's like not having a mom. I don't want her going through the same." Yang replied backhandedly supporting me. Did she really need to call me an idiot and stupid?

"Why are you guys so dead set on helping a Faunus?!" Blake responded with the first amount of emotion I've seen out of her.

"Wow Blake you really are a racist huh? If I knew you were that racist I would have never teamed up with you." Yang snapped back.

"I'm not a racist! I'm just asking why two humans are helping a faunus with no ulterior motive? That's not normal!" Blake responded heartedly. I decided to step in and and this now.

"I don't see her as a faunus. I see her as a scared, hurt, starving child who needs love and support. If you don't think likewise then please stay the fuck away from me and my daughter." I said as I got into her face make her back away slightly intimidated.

"I'm not a racist!" Blake repeated once more.

"I don't know Blake actions speak louder than words. So far you are acting like a racist." Yang said coming up to stand beside me.

"I'm not a racist! How could I be a racist against my own kind?!" Blake yelled before her eyes widened and she ran.


	17. Sweetness

"Wait Blake! Please stop!" Yang said as she ran away from us. We tried to catch up to her but it was no use. She was much faster than us and it didn't help that I had Sophia in my arms.

"Shit. What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Yang asked me frantically.

"What can we do? You have her number. Go ahead and call her. I'll go shopping by myself. You go find Blake and solve this issue." I reply to her turning around to go back to the Air Docks.

"Nuh uh. I'll text Blake and we will figure this out. She's a big girl she can take care of herself. You on the other hand. Well I'm sure you shopping is a disaster waiting to happen." Yang sniped back to me while texting on her scroll.

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" I defended while walking with her on the way to the docks.

"I'm sure if left to your own devices she'll end up looking like a carbon copy of you. She's a girl. She needs a feminine touch. Besides I've never met a man who doesn't look like they are going to self destruct after twenty minutes of shopping. You would probably buy the first thing that fits her and leave." She replied hautly.

"I resent that! I wouldn't buy the first thing I see! Although I'm sure she would look adorable in all camo. Right sweetie? Camo is awesome!" I asked Sophia offering a high five getting a meek yeah and slapping my palm softly.

"Oh sweetie you don't know what you speak of. Don't worry Mama Yang will teach you how dress." Yang said to Sophia while running her fingers through Sophia's hair. "I'll also teach you how to properly comb your hair and maintain it. Honestly it's such a pretty color, but so many knots. It hurt me to see hair like that. Don't worry sweetie I'll have your hair and wardrobe perfected in no time!"

"Well. I'm going to ignore the blatant blasphemy against camo and get on the Bullhead now." I said sarcastically. Am I an asshole? Yeah. A bit.

"Oh don't get so butt hurt. It looks good on you, but not on a little girl. Although you could certainly dress better." Yang teased getting on the Bullhead

"This is my uniform! Don't hate on it!" I replied slightly ticked off.

"Geez man. Take it down a notch. I'm just saying, if you dressed a little more savvy you would be down right sexy. But I guess if you want to be a hardass then fine by me." she said taking a seat next to me.

"Alright I get it you don't like the uniform."

"It's not that I don't like it per say. I'm just saying you would be pretty dashing in a Hunter's outfit. And if you grew out your hair a bit." She said as she ran her hands over my short and stubby hair, before rubbing her hand over the stubble on my jaw. "You would look good with a beard."

"You know for all that you say about me not getting into a relationship you are caring an awfully lot about how I look." I replied. Turning my face so that our noses were inches apart and our eyes were rearing into each other's souls.

"I said yet. Not ready for a relationship YET. Maybe I'm just trying to groom you into the perfect boyfriend." She breathed as I could feel her hot breath on my lips.

"Who said I would want to be your Boyfriend?" I replied with a small mischievous smile on my lips. That caused Yang to get a twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh? Like you could possibly resist me." She said with a smirk

"Well you must think pretty highly of yourself if you think it just takes a pretty face to make me yours." I replied not moving an inch. We were so close that I'm sure some turbulence would cause at least one aching nose.

"Like you could possibly say no to the mother of your child." At that I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Well maybe you're not my type?"

"Buddy we all know you two are fucking. Now please stop. It's hard for all of us to watch." Another passenger on the Bullhead spoke up. From the looks of his uniform he was an upperclassmen. Separating from each other we saw the rest of the bullhead all staring at us. Including the pilots. Talk about awkward. Roughly fifteen people saw that. Ah great now the whole campus is going to know what happened.

"Hey don't you all have something better to look at?" I yell at them which snaps them all into looking away. Looking over to Yang I see that her face is burning red with embarrassment. Seems like she lost her confidence that she had before. I could tease her about it, but I'd rather not upset the mother of my child. As weird as that is to think or say.

"So. Why do you think Blake ran?" I asked bringing up probably the worst attempt at small talk possible.

"Probably because of Weiss." Yang said with an exasperated sigh.

"Weiss?" How did Weiss come into play, besides being a mega bitch?

"I forgot. You know nothing. Weiss is the Daughter of the richest man on Remnant. Her family company is well known to be very anti-faunus. Supposedly treating the faunus like borderline slaves. I wouldn't know if its true since they don't operate any mines in Vale. But it would make sense for Blake to be uncovered as a Faunus by the daughter of the oppressor of her people." Yang said with a depressed sigh

"Wait. And you are okay with someone like that being on your team? Essentially a slave owner?" Honestly I couldn't believe my ears. I will be having words with Weiss.

"She isn't her father. You can't blame the daughter for the crimes of her father." She replied.

"I sure as hell can if she's still taking money from the business and using it to live a luxurious lifestyle." I replied heatedly. "She basically belongs to quite possibly the worst family on Remnant and is very much a racist. After all the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"I won't say anything about if she is or isn't a racist, but her father is quite possibly one of the worst individuals on this entire planet."

"Well I will definitely need to have words with Weiss. Especially if she's going to be within spitting distance of my daughter." I tell her.

"I can't blame you for that. Just don't do anything to make my team dynamic any worse than it already is. My team is basically broken already. Talk about a tough start to Beacon." She replied morosely.

"Yeah. Real tough. Drama. Hurt feelings. Real tough Yang real tough." I replied sarcastically.

"Oh shut up you ass. This isn't a dick measuring contest. I get it your life sucks so much more than mine." She said slapping on the arm before leaning on me and resting her head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry my problems must seem silly compared to yours"

"Nah it's fine. Everybody has their own struggles. I shouldn't try to diminish yours." I replied letting my hand settle on her hip.

"Heh diminish. You sound so old saying words like that ya know." She said with a slight chuckle.

We settled into a relaxing quiet for the rest of the ride to Vale. As soon as we landed Sophia woke up from feeling the bullhead land. I have no Idea how she slept through everything, just be happy for the small victories. We walk out of the Bullhead and make our way towards the parking lot. As soon as Sophia sees we are in Vale starts losing it.

"Pleaze don take me bawk. I be good girl. I pwomise." She yells out as she completely starts panicking and bawling. Oh shit she thinks I'm taking her back to the street corner and leaving her there. It honestly tears at my heart.

"Shh Shh. Calm down sweetheart. I'm not leaving you. Its okay. We are just going to buy you clothes and stuff you need okay sweetheart." I tell her as I calm her down by petting her cat ears and running my hand through her hair. Eventually after 10 minutes of crying she calms down, but she never relaxes her grip on me. Poor child is terrified of being left alone again. I don't blame her.

Shit what am I going to do with her when I have to go to my mission tomorrow? Oh wait nevermind. She has 'Mama Yang' to take care of her. Looking over towards Yang I see a sparkle in her eyes as she sees me calm Sophia down. I don't know what that sparkle means. I really hope it's not a bad sparkle.

"Okay let's get going then. Yang you think you can carry Sophia for me while I drive?" I ask Yang as we approach the parking lot near the exit.

"Oh you're driving? I was going to offer us taking my lovely motorcycle Bumblebee." Yang says pointing towards a yellow crotch rocket with flames on the sides.

"Yeah. No. That's a horrible Idea. How would we be able to carry everything we buy. Let alone carry a child." I tell Yang. Honestly it was a stupid proposal.

"Hey it was just an idea. No need to be an ass about it." She replied obviously irritated.

"Eh I'm an ass. Get used to it. We're taking the Humvee on a joyride, you know the truck you first saw us with." I tell her as I walk towards the aforementioned Humvee.

"We're driving that in Vale?"

"Yep"

"Is that legal"

"I have no Idea"

"What if you get pulled over?"

"Well that cop can kiss my ass!"

"Marry me" She mumbles

"What was that last one?" I'm going to pretend I didn't hear her say that. For my sake.

"Nothing."

"Alright then hop in." I say opening the passenger side door.

Yang hops in effortlessly and waits for me to hand over Sophia. That was actually the hardest part. Sophia refused to let go and let Yang hold her. Yang looked slightly offended at that, but didn't vocalize it. Eventually after five minutes of promising her that I'm not leaving her she finally agrees to be held by Yang. Yang immediately cradles her in a comfortable hold that Sophia snuggles into. Maybe Yang might be onto something with that whole Mama Yang thing. She looked like a natural carrying her.

Closing the door I get around to the driver's side and flip the switch starting up the Humvee. Driving through the streets of Vale we see that a lot of people stop and stare at our massive truck. It's an absolute pain to drive through these narrow streets, but I manage it just fine. With the help of Yang's scroll we find a department store not too far away. It only takes us ten minutes to get there and park in the underground parking garage. Looking over towards Sophia and Yang I see the adorable sight of Sophia cuddling up to Yang while Yang had a gentle smile on her face. That gentle smile looked absolutely stunning on Yang. Not her usual smirk, just a gentle loving smile. The smile of a mother.

After taking in the sight for a moment I get out of the Humvee and open the passenger side door. I offer to take Sophia back into my arms. Sophia immediately tries to jump into my arms, but Yangs seems hesitant to let go. Seems like she got attached, that's cute and good. It's exactly what Sophia needs in her life.

We take an elevator up to the Department store and find our way to the children's section. We find that clothes for three year olds fits her best. So after figuring out her size I let Yang pick out the clothes. While I find a seat near the fitting rooms with the rest of the tortured gentlemen. We all spare each other a head nod in acknowledgement of our equal suffering.

Time to surf the internet on my scroll. I spend my time learning some of the history of the SDC. The company that Weiss is a part of. Apparently they basically hold the world by the balls since they hold essentially a monopoly on dust. The only power source this world apparently has. Is there really no regulations on monopolies in this world? They can charge as much as they want and end whole countries if they want. That is way too much power for one company to have. Especially one as greedy and racist as the SDC. No wonder everyone turns a blind eye to SDC Faunus oppression. If any country dares speaks out they will be cut off from their energy source and will be left to ruin. Its like if Saudi Arabia controlled all of the world's Oil supply. However with an actually competent military of course. Actually with what I've seen so far I wouldn't be surprised if the SDC's puppet, the Atlesian military, is a joke too. Honestly Android's with AI's to fight their battles? Have they not seen Terminator. Wait different world. Of course they haven't.

Eventually after what seems like an eternity Yang comes back with a shopping cart full of clothes. Maybe having her come along was actually a bad idea. I only have so much money after all.

She proceeds to take Sophia from my arms and then spends what feels like hours trying on all the outfits. With her coming out of the fitting room every outfit to get my input. Eventually we agreed on twenty outfits, a bunch of underwear, and four pairs of shoes for Sophia. Yang wanted a lot more outfits, but I talked her down to only twenty. It was a royal pain in the ass because Yang is as stubborn as a mule. Luckily for me I'm just as stubborn. In any case I didn't have enough money in the first place for so much clothes. Unless of course she was offering to pay. That had stopped her dead in her tracks and got her to agree with twenty.

We dressed Sophia up in one of the outfits to continue the rest of the day. We picked a cute Lavender dress with a large Violet flower design on the right side of the skirt. It had a black sash around the waist with black shoes. It made Sophia look incredibly adorable.

We get to the register and find it to be an older Faunus lady with small antlers on her head, looking at us she seems shocked by us being together. Is the racism that bad?

"Well you two are quite the young parents!", The older Faunus tells us in a grandmotherly voice. Oh well I suppose we are, "How old is she? She's quite adorable!"

"Ah she's four years old ma'am." I tell her as I settle Sophia in my arms while Yang loads up the outfits on the counter trying to hide the blush she obviously has on her face. Well if she isn't going to deny it then I won't say anything either.

"You adopted her didn't you?" The older lady asked.

"Yeah WE did." Yang answered before I had a chance .

"Brothers bless you. I'd never thought I would see a pair of humans take in an orphaned Faunus. Truly you bring joy to this old woman's heart." The elder woman said holding her hands to her chest.

"Well can you blame us for adopting her? She's just so precious!" Yang said with a bright smile taking it all in like a pro.

"I can't say I can. She is absolutely adorable, especially in that adorable outfit." She said in a grandmotherly tone.

"Ah that reminds me the clothes she's wearing are from here so don't forget to add them to the bill, I'd rather not be accused of shoplifting." I say showing the tags still on the clothes.

"What happened to her other outfit?" The old lady asks as she tallies up the clothing that Sophia is wearing and adding it to the total.

"Ah well her other outfit was completely destroyed, you know how kids are at her age."

"Well the darling seems very well behaved. You are both doing a wonderful job for such young parents. She seems to love you a lot. You three give me hope for the future. Human parents and a faunus daughter. I wouldn't imagine seeing this in my llifetime. Brothers bless you."

"We are just doing what anybody should. Every child deserves a home." Yang said sincerely. Damn it's like she's taking credit for adopting her. I would be mad, but I can't when she is making us look so good.

"The world needs more people like yourselves. I know it must be tough to be so young and raising a child. I gave you two an employee discount of ten percent. I'm sorry I can't do more, but I need this job. The total will be 327 Lien."

"Oh no problem. Thank you so much for the discount!" Yang said

I can't understand how Yang is so nonchalant about it. That's a lot of money. Well I can't really complain I know plenty of guys that would drop that much money on a pair of shoes so in comparison this isn't that bad. The clothes should last her a little while, I know she'll outgrow these clothes quickly but it will do for now. After paying for the clothes using up all the cash the guys gave me and some of my own we leave the department store. Yang taking some of the bags while a grab a couple myself with my left arm. We get to the Humvee and we toss the bags into the back seat. Yang gets back into the passenger seat and waits for me to put Sophia back into her arms. It seems like they have grown closer together because Sophia doesn't hesitate to cuddle into her now.

I start up the Humvee and leaving the parking lot I turn to her and say, "So wife where's the nearest pharmacy?"

"Oh is that a proposal? I didn't know you wanted me that badly." Yang said with a smirk.

"I don't know you seemed to want to be my wife pretty badly back there. How am I supposed to take that?" I replied back with a smirk not even taking my eyes off the road.

"Well I wasn't acting like your wife. I was acting like her mom. Which I am. You are the one that made that connection. Take it one step at a time handsome."

"Well talking about taking it one step at a time we need to stop by the Pharmacy and get the laundry list of medication Sophia needs."

"Well I'm not in any hurry to get back. If she needs something then let's get it."

"Alright then" I said continuing to drive through the area looking for a pharmacy.

While driving on the streets I notice that the sun is just setting and we should definitely grab something to eat. It's rather late and I only had the Italian food from earlier. I have about 300 lien left, should be enough for all the medication Sophia needs and for us to get a quick bite to eat.

Stopping by the Pharmacy we quickly get all the pills and vitamins Mallaurie recommended. We ended up spending around 200 Lien on the medication which hurt my wallet, but was necessary.

Finally we make it to a diner at about nine at night. It was completely dark outside and it seems like there is no way I'm going to be able to give Ozpin a piece of my mind today, however we will be meeting Ozpin tomorrow before we leave for the mission.

Entering the small diner we got seated at a small booth. They did have booster seats, but Sophia put up a big fuss and wanted to sit on my lap. Much to Yang's amusement.

This all felt just like my date with Emily. Oh wait that's right I should text Emily! Should I? Things seem to be going well with Yang. But I did say yes to dating Emily. God damn fuck me right? Fuck it I'll text her later it's not an emergency. I can solve this later. Right now I need some greasy food in my stomach.

Immediately as I think that a cute waitress around our age comes around to take our order. She absolutely fawns over Sophia and takes a while to refocus and take our order. Huh if I wasn't already with Emily I could have used her as a chick magnet. I'm sure the rest of the idiots will not hesitate to use her as a chick magnet. Not that I would blame them in the slightest. Eventually I order myself a double bacon cheeseburger with extra bacon with fries and order chicken nuggets with fries for Sophia while Yang orders herself a grilled chicken and avocado sandwich with sweet potato fries. Hey what can I say? Chicken nuggets are always a safe order for kids, what kid doesn't like them?

It doesn't take long for our food to get here. I absolutely demolish my food and I can say it was the greatest thing hands down I had eaten since before my deployment. Italian food and breakfast are great and all, but nothing beats a good diner Burger. What can I say? It reminds me of home and it tastes amazing. I look up expecting Yang to be disgusted by my eating habits, but I'm surprised to see she is just attacking that chicken sandwich with no remorse. Who knew such a fair, curvy, and graceful woman can eat like this? It's amazing, but now that I don't have any guilt of eating like an animal I go ham on this burger. In between my monster bites I also feed Sophia who absolutely adores the chicken nuggets chewing with a giddy little smile on her face. It brings a smile on my face to see her so happy.

In no time flat we are finished eating and full. By the time we get out of the diner and start heading back to the shuttles its already 11pm. We get into the Humvee and I place a sleeping Sophia into Yang's arms. We drive most of the way in content silence as most people do when they are absolutely full and happy. As I get closer to the Shuttle station I decide to bring up something I should have earlier.

"Hey Yang. You think you can do me a favor?"

"Depends on the favor." She says as she strokes the sleeping Sophia's hair.

"Okay, well I need you to babysit Sophia for me tomorrow. I'll be leaving on a mission for Ozpin tomorrow after Combat class. I was hoping I could leave you with Sophia for the day."

"A mission? First years aren't allowed on missions until next semester!"

"Well obviously me and my team are special, it's all classified so I can't tell you anything, but could you please look after Sophia for me? I'll pay you for your services."

"No it wouldn't be a favor if you need to pay me. I'll do it for free, besides I'm her mom now. That's my job. How long will you be gone?"

"Hopefully by that night if all goes according to plan."

"Okay that's fine with me. I don't mind spending the day with this sweetheart. I don't think anyone on my team would make a big deal about me taking care of her."

"Alright sounds perfect. Thanks Yang it's a huge help."

"No problem. I said I was going to help and I meant it."

With that we pull into the shuttle station and park in the parking lot. Grabbing Sophia in my left arm and grabbing a bunch of bags in my right, Yang grabbing the rest that I don't. We have to wait a little while for the next shuttle back to Beacon considering that its a Combat school the shuttle service never stops due to not knowing when a team will need to get supplies from Vale for a mission. Eventually we find ourselves at my dorm room with a couple of minutes to spare before midnight, turning around I grab the rest of the bags from Yang.

"Thanks for all the help today Yang. I appreciate it. I had fun hanging out with you today."

"The pleasure was mine, we should do this again sometime", she says before she grabs my face and leaves a gentle kiss on my cheek that stays there a little to long to be considered a friendly peck on the cheek, "You'll make a good boyfriend when you are ready."

With that said she saunters away shaking her ass from side to side knowing I can't take my eyes off her.

Well. That's something. A very hot something.

Never mind I need to focus on getting Sophia's clothes away and giving her the medication. I open the door to see my whole team fast asleep, I wonder how that talk with the ladies went. Oh well another thing for me to worry about tomorrow. Setting all the stuff we bought on the counter I lay Sophia down on my bed to sleep. I put away all her clothing into the drawers except for a pair of Pajamas.

Gently waking her up I coax her to take her chewable medicine and eventually get her into a light pink pair of footie pajamas. Taking her bow out of her hair and laying her down in my bed. I change into some running shorts and keep the blouse on. I get into bed laying down a little bit away from Sophia so she has space to sleep comfortably. Apparently that was the wrong decision as she starts to whimper and crawls her way over to me and tries to climb onto me.

It amazes me how quickly she got so attached to me, but I can't deny that I am the same. She is my daughter. No question in my mind. I lay her down on my chest and that gets her to stop whimpering and she quickly falls asleep with my shirt firmly in the grasp of her tiny little fingers. Hopefully all goes well on the mission tomorrow so I can come back and take care of my daughter. If not I know Yang and the guys will take care of my daughter in my place.


	18. American Thug

Feeling Sophia starting to wake up on my chest I get up and see the rest of my team starting to wake up as well. Looking over to the clock I see that it's 0600. No PT. I guess it makes sense since we do have a mission today. We need to be as well rested and alert as possible. Waking Sophia up I convince her to stay on the bed while I go about grabbing her medication. Eventually after a couple frustrating minutes I get her to take all her medication, vitamins, and supplements. After that I go about exercising her legs and massaging them. Her whimpers and slight cries of pain utterly crush my heart, but I'm proud of her for pushing past the pain. It hurts her, but she needs it. Eventually I finish and start giving her a little bit of water.

"Alright Frias go take a shower. We'll watch your daughter. Change into your BCS and the rest of your combat gear. We head out for the mission right after combat class. So we are going loaded and locked." Kopman softly said to me as I gave Sophia some water.

"Should I load up the 50 Cal?"

"Nah, you don't have much experience on the Barrett. Besides, we are going in hard and fast. Flashbangs and frags."

"Sounds good. How did it go last night? Things looked like they were getting heated between Weiss and Newlin."

"Yeah. Weiss is a major bitch, treated us like dogshit. Newlin took exception to it. Slapped her on that ass and called her 'no better than a kitchen wench' and told her to go fetch him a sandwich because that is the only thing she could possibly do right. She called him a sexist pig and slapped the ever living shit out of him. Ruby intervened and sent Weiss away. It went much better with JNPR. The girls understood that they needed more bro time, but they don't want to feel left out so all of JNPR will join us in PT from now on."

"Gotta say I'm glad Newlin put Weiss in her place. He could have done it in a better way, but she deserves it. That bitch is the richest bitch in all of Remnant. Her family basically has the whole world in the palm of their hands. Essentially imagine Saudi Arabia as a company, but with all the world's Oil supply not just a large portion. That's her family. Oh and her family is also extremely racist, treats faunus like slaves. Just to throw more into the pot."

"Damn bro. That's scary as fuck. I would say we wouldn't want to be her enemies, but fuck that bitch. We can handle her, besides we don't use this shitty ass 'dust'. So it's a non issue for us."

"For us maybe. But not for the kingdom of Vale. Let's try to be at least not get a sexual harassment complaint in our first week here. God knows we've been through enough SHARP training to last a lifetime."

"Yeah I'll tell Newlin to cool it with the wench remarks."

"Funniest thing is that Newlin was actually interested in her. Until she opened her mouth of course."

"Yeah good thing Newlin lost interest. She's a bitch and a half."

"Yeah well I would say she's also Jailbait, but apparently as soon as they became huntsman-in-training they all legally became adults."

"Even little Ruby?"

"Yep even her. However if any Pedo even tries it he's gonna get the beating of a lifetime. If I don't kill the bastard. The kid is way too innocent and naive for her own good."

"Yeah she's just a kid. In all honesty she shouldn't even be in this line of work."

"Well that's not our call to make man. We just have to work with the cards we are dealt with. Now go get your ass in the shower. Sophia needs to spend some time with her Uncle."

"Alright you got it. Thanks man"

"Don't worry about it just get ready for the mission."

With that said I hand the water bottle to Kopman and with some convincing I get Sophia to stay with Kopman while I go take a shower.

Getting into the shower I start off with a freezing cold shower to wake me up and finish with scalding hot water. It helps me wake up and loosen up.

Getting out of the shower I put on the skin tight combat shorts followed by my ACU pants with the belt unbuckled. After getting my pants on I go about brushing my teeth and performing my morning routine. Drying myself off I get into my BCS and tuck the shirt into my pants and tighten the belt. Making sure my dog tags are under the shirt. I get out of the bathroom just for Volk to rush in next. Walking over to my gear I go about bringing my gear next to my bed.

But first I need to get Sophia ready for the day. Sadly I don't think I'll have time to give her another bath but she had one yesterday and she doesn't smell yet so she should be fine. I dress her up in a white dress with green polka dots and a green sash across the waist and white shoes. I know I'm going to regret dressing her in white, but she looks cute like this. Combing her hair out with some fussing on her part I give her a french braid. Hey I grew up with two little sisters. I had to learn to do their hair since my parents worked early and couldn't help me get them ready for school. Like I said it was like I was raised to be a father.

After I finish getting her ready I go about checking all my gear. Field stripping and cleaning my M4 and M9 one more time just to be sure. I grabbed ten of the fourteen magazines I had in my gear and made sure they were all fully loaded from my patrol. I slide the ten magazines into my rack and drop pouches. I also grab my lite aid bag in case we have a casualty. I strap on four stun grenades and four frags. If we are going to be breaching a building and fighting room to room these grenades are going to be vital. Strapping on my thigh holster for the M9 I notice that there are only three extra mags total for the M9 and they are empty.

Taking my time while also playing with Sophia I load up the three mags with bullets by hand. Honestly it's a pain in the ass, but someone needs to do it.

"Alright guys this is going to be a quick mission. We go in quick, fuck shit up, and then get the fuck out. Key thing is we need to be silent up until we reach the enemy outpost. So that means I want suppressors on all side arms. If we run into patrols we need to take them out with either your sidearm or preferably ambush them and take then out with your Ka-bars. Rules of engagement are anyone with a mask is an enemy and is good to kill. Shoot to kill gentlemen. I don't give a crap about Ozpin's order to capture the Lieutenant. We are not risking our lives for what little intelligence he may hold. Shoot to kill and double tap. We want to keep our existence as a mystery to our enemy. Best they think of us as the boogeyman that stalks them in the night. Fuck them up mentally. Hooah?"

"Hooah" we all respond.

"hoowah" Sophia shouts, trying to copy us with her hands held high.

She is just too cute sometimes. With her little distraction the killer mentality ends rapidly. But we still have our orders.

"Alright fuckers, I want everyone to put on facepaint. Might as well scare the shit out of the enemy before we kill them."

With Kopman's orders, we all proceed to prepare ourselves for battle. I grab the facepaint from the black bag and start applying the face paint, letting Sophia help a little so that the look doesn't end up scaring her. With that done, I start putting on my Vest and setting up my gear. I keep my helmet off for now and there is no need for comms since Kopman was given an earpiece by Ozpin that communicates with our assigned pilot. Going over my gear one more time, I wait for the others to finish.

Finally at 0730, we are all loaded and locked and ready for combat. After a quick check, Kopman gave the order, and we headed out for breakfast. I picked up Sophia, and carried her with me. Obviously it wasn't very comfortable for her thanks to my gear, but she didn't complain. Walking down the halls we get many looks from some of the other students barely starting their day. Can't blame them, we must make the strange sight. Four soldiers and a little girl. Well they can wonder all they want it doesn't bother me. Eventually we make it to the cafeteria and after giving a good morning to the sweet old lady Alice we load up our plates. I grab one plate and just decide to feed Sophia off of my plate. With us claiming the same table as last breakfast we get another pitcher of orange juice. Cutting up the over easy eggs, hash browns and sausage I alternate between feeding myself and Sophia until she gets full. It also turns out that Sophia absolutely loves orange juice. Hell, she fell in love with it from the first sip. Can't blame her, after all Orange juice is my favorite non-alcoholic drink. Like father like daughter I suppose.

After we finish eating and making sure that Sophia didn't spill anything on her new dress which somehow she didn't. We make our way over to combat class around 830. Class doesn't start until 9 but we figured it was best to be early. Arriving at the same arena as the team naming ceremony we take a seat in the upper portion of the arena. The whole place is completely empty so we decide to spend the time talking.

"Hey Frias how did it go with Yang last night?" Kopman asks me after we sit down.

"It was pretty good. We bought a bunch of clothes and medicine for Sophia. We also found a great spot that makes bombass burgers. We gotta hit that place up when we have the chance." I tell them while trying to get comfortable with all the gear on. It was futile. There was no way I would possibly get comfortable with these fucking auditorium seats and all my gear.

"Sounds like you went on a date with Yang to me." Volk replied smugly

"Nah bro it ain't even like that."

"Really? Cuz word around the place is that you had your tongue down her throat. That sounds like it was like that bro."

"Ah Shit. Word spreads that quickly?"

"Fuck yeah it does. They got an app called myTweet. Its like Twitter and this picture of you two blew up on that bitch. Seems like a lot of guys are pissed that you got that tail so quickly. She is pretty hot so kudos to you, but didn't you just bang that other girl not even a couple hours earlier? Should we call you Don Frias now?" Volk said showing a picture of Yang and I in a very intimate pose. It did look a lot like we were making out from that angle. Although Sophia's sleeping face in the picture was hilarious and adorable. Looking at the comments seems like she has a little fan club now too. However most of the comments were haters. Even a few death threats. Really? Death threats over a picture? People are fucking crazy.

"Bruh I don't even fucking know. She was teasing me at first. Well actually before that she was telling me I wasn't even emotionally or mentally ready for a relationship because I'm still 'grieving' for the loss of my family. Then she talks about how she's grooming me to be her boyfriend when I'm mentally okay. Then we have Emily who wants to date me now. I don't know man it's fucking complicated."

"Sounds like it man. Keep that shit outta your head for now. We got our mission. Just focus on that cuz if you fuck up during the mission you won't get a chance to worry about your relationship problems." Kopman intervened.

"Copy that Cpl. We got shit to do soon. My trigger finger is itching."

"Good shit. Just for the love of God remember to maintain trigger discipline."

"Hooah Cpl. I roger that."

Then I heard a commotion coming from behind the door before it bursts open revealing teams JNPR and RWY. Team JNPR waves to us and decides to sit below us with RW following no Blake in sight. Yang decides to head over to us and takes her seat next to me.

"Hey Hubby how's my daughter doing?" Yang says as she starts petting her hair and Sophia starts reaching for her. I guess my equipment is really really uncomfortable and she only trust Yang besides me. So I hand her over and immediately Sophia cuddles into her. Looking up after I hand her over I see the rest of Teams RWBY, JNPR and my own looking at us after what came out of Yang's mouth.

"Umm Yang. Why did you call him Hubby and why did you call her your daughter?" Ruby asked pale as a ghost.

"Cuz she's my daughter. I can't let this idiot raise her by himself. He would totally fuck up." Yang answered.

"Ooh! Swear! You have to put a Lien in the swear jar!" Ruby said pulling a jar full of Lien out of nowhere. Where the fuck was she keeping that big ass jar? Did she pull it out of her ass or something?

"Really Ruby? The swear jar? I thought you would care more about the fact that you are an auntie."

"Oh my Oum! I'm an auntie! Oh we can make cookies together! And I can get her a cute little cape! And teach her how to be all like wacha!" Ruby said taking a karate pose. It was utterly adorable.

"Calm down Rubes. She won't be learning how to kick butt anytime soon. But she will be staying the night with us!" Yang said cooing at Sophia while Sophia played with her hair.

"Ooh! Sleepover! I love sleepovers! We are going to watch movies and have cookies with milk! Wear some fluffy pajamas! Oh so much fun!..wait Why is she getting to sleepover?"

"Because she's my daughter and the because her big lug of a father is going on a mission today." Yang replied

"Oooh! You are going on a mission already? Lucky! I want to go on a mission already!"

"Relax Rubes. We will get to go on missions later in the year. When Ozpin thinks we are ready." Yang says while trying to untangle Sophia's fingers from her hair.

Down in the row below us I hear the white bitch murmur something about heathens not being worthy of going on a mission as first years. Or something along those lines. I would call her out on that bullshit, but I don't want this pointless drama to mess with our mentality for this mission.

Regardless I wouldn't have time to retort because Glynda entered the arena and got everyone to shut up. She spent the first half of class explaining the syllabus and the grading system. She went on to explain how the combat works and all that jazz. It was pretty self explanatory except for the aura thing. Why do they stop at 20%? They should fight until they can't fight any longer. The only way to truly learn is by truly getting your ass whooped and feeling that pain. Here it's no pain, so they get no gain. Fucking useless.

Eventually Glynda finished her introduction to the course.

"Now we should have time for two fights. Are there any volunteers?" As soon as Glynda finishes asking the question white bitch raises her hand and stands up at the same time.

"Alright Miss. Schnee. Now are there any volunteers to fight her?"

"Actually I want to fight one of the brutish idiots from METC and put them in their place." Did this bitch reply just say that? Oh it's on now!

"Team METC can't fight bec-"

"I'll fight the bitch", I yell out before Glynda can come up with an excuse for us, "one request though. No aura knockout and no ringout. Just tap out or knock out."

"Mr. Frias we cannot all-"

"Agreed" The white bitch yells out right before she storms out to grab her gear from the locker room.

"Very well I will be stepping in if it gets out of hand"

"Of course of course that's fine with me." I say as I make my way down the stairs towards the stage. I ignore the concerned looks from Ruby and Yang as I make my way down to the stage.

It's time to show this bitch her place. Nothing like a good humiliation to bring her to heel. Nothing too drastic. She is a girl after all. Maybe I should bend her over my knee and give her a good spanking. I'm sure that would be quite the spectacle.

Finally the bitch arrives and stands opposite of me with her fancy fencing sword and dressed in all white and high heels. Truly she is an idiot.

"I am about to put you in your place you inferior heathens. I will show everyone why you are nothing but dirt beneath my shoes. If your whole nation was destroyed by bandits they must have deserved their deaths for being so weak. You wannabe soldiers probably died like the inferior scum you are. Even Faunus are better than you wannabes."

Wow. I actually want to kill this bitch. Yep I am going to commit murder. I'm going to kill this racist ass little bitch. Wait wait. No! I'm the better man.

She entered her stance with her sword pointing towards me and a giant blue snowflake appearing behind her. At Glynda's command to start she rockets towards me. I quickly side step the attack and twirl away like a true matador with a little "Olé". Her face turns bright red and she shoots a ball of fire at me.

Suddenly, I'm back in Kandahar. An RPG had narrowly missed me at close range taking out a building behind me. The Haji that shot at me starts sprinting forward to try to pick up an AK from his fallen brother. I quickly send three rounds from my M4 hitting my target in the center of mass. It staggers the insurgent, but he keeps running towards the AK. I pop off another three round burst. This time it knocks him on his ass, weaponless. Yet again they try to get up. I don't give the bastard a chance. I pounce on him at once and start beating the ever living shit out of the bastard. I ripped my helmet off, and started to beat the fucker with it, smashing the hard NVG mount into his face. Every word I scream is punctuated by a thud. "GET! SOME! AMERICAN! PAIN! YOU! SICK! STUPID! MOTHER! FUCKING! HAJI!" Said motherfucker tried to blow me to smithereens with a grenade, but I broke his wrist, and shoved the grenade in his mouth. Just as I was about to bring out my Ka-Bar to sink into the bastards neck, I was suddenly thrown across the street by an invisible force. I leaned up, screaming something about murdering the bastard with my E-Tool. Then it snapped back to me. I wasn't in Afghanistan. I was on Remnant. I was in the combat class Arena. I was clutching my Ka-Bar, and my gloves were soaked in blood. Glynda looked at me furiously, before she sprinted over to Weiss. She immediately called for medics to come.

Looking over to where Glynda was, I saw Weiss laying on the floor, clutching her bleeding right shoulder, her face absolutely jacked up. Her right eye was already swelling and her left temple had a large gash on it, pouring blood down her face, no doubt leaving her temporarily blind. Her right hand was bent at an angle no wrist should be. She was also sobbing. Hard.

I didn't mean to do this. I just wanted to humiliate her. I didn't want to hurt her. I don't know what overcame me. Ruby sprinted to Weiss' side looking utterly horrified. Looking into the crowd, I saw everybody utterly horrified. Even worse, I noticed that a few had been recording the fight. As soon as Mallaurie arrived at the scene with a nurse, Glynda sprinted up to me.

"I don't know what kind of fighting you partake in where you came from, but that is unacceptable! You better pray she ends up alright after this. You know what, just go. I know you have a mission to go on. Just come back in one piece. I don't need two students down in the first week. There will be consequences for this Mr. Frias." Glynda said, before snapping her riding crop in her hands. "Now get out of my sight before I do something I regret."

Well fuck this shit. She wanted a fight and she got one. Sure I went a little too far, but fuck that I'm going to give these fuckers a piece of my mind! 

"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED!? YOU SENT US TO FIGHT! SHE CHALLENGED ME! I DID NOT INITIATE THIS FIGHT! THIS IS THE CRUEL REALITY OF THIS WORLD MAGGOTS! THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FIGHT FOR REAL IN THE REAL WORLD. THERE IS NO MERCY! THERE IS NO SECOND CHANCES! THERE IS NO GRACE! NO BEAUTY! NO PAGEANTRY! IT IS FUCKED UP! YOU WILL KILL YOUR OPPONENTS OR YOU WILL DIE. IT IS KILL OR BE KILLED. THAT IS WHAT I LEARNED WHERE I CAME FROM! NOW GOOD DAY! I HAVE TO GO KILL SOME FUCKERS BECAUSE OZPIN TOLD ME TO! WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE FUCK NUGGETS!" I sounded off in her face. Loud. I took a step back, Saluted her, then about faced, and walked, slowly, off the arena. I figured it was best to deflect it as a misunderstanding than me losing my shit. God what was wrong with me?

As I pass by the other students I see them all flinch as I pass by them looking like they are about to piss themselves. Pussies. Getting to my team I get pulled aside from them by Yang. She drags me by the arm out of the classroom and into the hallway. As soon as we were alone she turns on me

"What the fuck was that Frias? You almost killed my teammate. Hell you looked like you wanted to. I get that she's a bitch, but it's not alright to just go mauling the fuck out of people. You looked like a monster out there." She said pushing me against the wall.

"I know I fucked up alright! I didn't mean for it to go that far. I just got lost in the heat of the moment." I said as I gripped my helmet with both hands.

"No it's more than that. You need help Efrain. You were calling her a Haji while you were beating her in. I don't know what a Haji is. I'm assuming it's one of the tribes you fought against. I'm not trying to demonize you, but this is not okay. You need help. If not for yourself then for your daughter."

"Listen Yang. I need to go on my mission, we'll talk about this later." I told her before placing a kiss on Sophia's forehead and walking towards my team.

"We will talk more about this Efrain. Remember you can trust me." Yang called out to me as I walked away. All I could do is nod in acknowledgement.

As soon as I got to them Kopman got in my face.

"What the Fuck happened to being diplomatic with the SDC Frias? You put yourself into some deep shit man. You are our brother and we will support you all the way. But fuck you fucked up. What the hell happened in there?"

"Bro. I don't know. After she tried to set me on fire I lost my shit. I fucked up, but my instincts to kill a motherfucker flared up."

"Shit man. Are you mentally okay to go on this mission? No bullshit. We can't have you going if you aren't 100 percent in it." Kopman said staring right into my soul

"I'm good man. I can go. I'm 100%. Let's go." I respond staring right back into his eyes.

"Alright I'll trust you on this. Don't make me regret it." Kopman responds before leading us towards the Air Docks where Ozpin is standing next to a sleek and thin bullhead. I really want to give him shit about the situation with the Faunus, but after what just happened I lost all moral high ground. Honestly someone who just beat the shit out of some teenage girl has no moral high ground to stand on.

"Gentlemen, good you are here. I hope you are all prepared for this mission. This bullhead will drop you off approximately 2 kilometers south of your target. When you are finished use the device I gave you to call the bullhead to your position. I have no units available in reserve so you will truly be on your own. I will however be monitoring your mission live thanks to these body cams that I would like you to attach to your chests." He said handing out small black boxes that had an extremely sticky back. It stuck on easily and didn't feel like it was going to fall off anytime soon. "I wish you all the best of luck. Happy hunting gentlemen."

We all gave our acknowledgment as the Bullhead lifted off, and stared out into the sky as we flew by. A few minutes later, Kopman gathered us together for a huddle. "Dear God, even though we are in a new land, we know that you follow us wherever we go. I ask that you protect us from evil, and deliver our enemies into our hands. In the name that is good, amen." With that, we all gave an amen and a whoop.

(Time skip)

Roughly 2 hours later we find ourselves hovering over a clearing that is supposedly 2 km south of our objective. On Kopman's order, we turned on our body cams. As soon as the bullhead touched the ground, we shot out of the bullhead and started making our way towards the objective. Keeping our heads on a swivel we silently made our way towards the enemy outpost. One kilometer into our journey, all we had faced was small Grimm, which had been dealt with by suppressed 9mm rounds to the head. Takes about 3 rounds for a beowulf and 6 for the large bear. I have half a clip left in my M9 with one extra mag left. Everybody else should be about the same except for Kopman who has 3 extra mags. We advance cautiously and carefully. Soon we hear some rustling through the bushes up ahead and some voices.

Looks like we have run into one of their patrols. We have the advantage since we haven't been spotted yet. We push our advantage and try to get eyes on the patrol. Reaching the Bush we look around it to see that it's a three man patrol. A very lax patrol, apparently, since we literally caught them with their pants down. One of them is pissing on a tree and the other two are looking away from him and coincidentally away from us.

Looking over to Kopman. He signals me to take out the pisser, while he and Volk take out the other two with Newlin watching our backs. I pull the Ka-bar out of its sheath and ready myself for my first hand to hand kill. I've killed before sure, but that was from a distance not face to face. This is a completely different ballgame.

Just as we are about to reach my target. Someone steps on a twig alerting the patrol. My target tries to spin around, but before he can do anything I pounce on him slashing at his throat like an animal. There was no skill or grace in the kill. I just chopped at his neck while he tried to gouge my eyes out with his fingers. After a couple seconds his struggling stops and I'm utterly soaked in his blood.

I hear some rustling over by where Volk and Kopman were supposed to be. Rushing over to thier position I see them on the ground taking care of their opponents. Volk had his Ka-Bar in his target's heart while Kopman had broken his target's neck.

Nodding in agreement we all take the dead bodies and hid them in some bushes. After checking each other to make sure we were all okay we kept pushing forward. We had a job to do.


	19. Warpath

Wiping off the blood from my Ka-bar and returning it to its sheath I take out my M9 Beretta with the suppressor attached. While we don't have subsonic rounds to make it completely silenced, in comparison to the loud and flashy dust rounds our suppressed guns are nearly silent.

Pushing towards our objective we make it half a klick before we run into another patrol. This patrol seems more alert than the last one, but still hasn't noticed us. Creeping up we once more pull out our Ka-bars. Looking towards the patrol we notice they are following a small trail made by foot traffic. Kopman signals to Volk to follow him to cut the patrol off further ahead. While Newlin and I hit them from the rear. Kopman wants me and Newlin to take out the two rear most members of the patrol while they take out the front with suppressed close fire from the front.

Following our orders Newlin and I stay behind and carefully stalk our clueless enemy. At least we try to. It seems like Faunus have better hearing than we gave them credit for because they started lighting up the area we were standing in. The whole patrol is focused on us and starts to push forward. Nailing us each a couple times. The bullets hurt like a motherfucker, but don't penetrate the skin. Basically like rubber bullets. Taking cover behind some thicker trees we begin returning fire loudly with our non suppressed weapons. By the confusion we hear from the patrol, Kopman and Volk must have started to lay down some heavy fire too. In no time the patrol is completely mowed down. It did fuck up our entire plan of being stealthy though. By now the whole compound must be getting ready for us. Approaching the demolished patrol we mercifully finish off those who still had life in them. No point in taking prisoners when we still had to move towards the objective. We didn't bother hiding the bodies. I'm sure we were loud enough for the WF to know exactly where we were. I'm pretty sure they were expecting us and preparing an absolute shitstorm for us to march our way into. But this wasn't going to be a fight we were going to back down from. As soon as we got close to the compound we heard yells of orders and various other sounds.

Kopman signaled for me to climb up one of the trees in order to see what we were up against. From my position I was able to see no less than fifty insurgents. They had set up three rows of defensive trenches reminiscent of old WW1 trenches. Complete with barbed wire and a few small lookout posts. Seems like they were prepared to defend this outpost from a literal army.

Well. An army of four will have to do. Looking down I tell Kopman such and signal that we are roughly 75 meters away from the first trench.

Volk sets up his shot with his M203 Grenade launcher begins his assault raining down a series of grenades upon the trenches while Newlin and Kopman move their way to the edge of the forest under the cover of the grenades. From my vantage point I can see that the grenades aren't being accurate enough to land in the trench and cause casualties, but it is forcing them to take cover and not return fire. From my viewpoint, however, I can see the tops of their unprotected heads and decide to take advantage of my spot. Lining up my shot I aim for a brown haired head. Pulling the trigger I know I hit bullseye when I see a splatter of red behind where he or she used to be. After that the heads in the near vicinity crouch lower so that I can't get a visual of them. However further down the line the same couldn't be said. I lined up my shot again and sent a three round burst towards my target. I know at least one of my rounds hit when, yet again, more blood splashed. This time one of his comrades freaked out and stood up. A mistake on her part as I sent three rounds right into her chest.

As I methodically laid down a precise suppressing fire. Just enough to make anyone of them scared to pop their heads out of cover. Down below I could see Kopman crawling to cut the barber wire. Out of the Compound a group of WF came running towards the third line of trenches. Newlin made sure that most of them didn't reach the trench. Getting mowed down on the way. Telling from the screams of agony most of those shot down were still alive desperately calling for a medic or any assistance. I kept from shooting any that went to their assistance. Something about shooting medics or even just brothers trying to save each other didn't sit well with me. Newlin didn't shoot them either. They dragged their injured into the compound. Looking around the trenches that encircle the compound, I saw that reinforcements from the other positions were coming to help defend the south.

I bid them a good hello by taking out a few of them when they turned the corner to southern side of the trench from their eastern position. Causing them to hold their position at our 3 o'clock behind the bodies of their comrades. I didn't have time to supress the reinforcements from the western trenches, but by that point Kopman had clipped all the barbed wire and Volk had run out of grenades and had joined Newlin on the treeline waiting for the signal.

Kopman threw two grenades into the trench. One to his right and one two his left. I kept suppressing the eastern reinforcements and took potshots at anybody who stuck their head out of the trench. Well anyone I saw stick their head out that is. As soon as he went into the trench Volk and Newlin sprinted in after him beginning a fierce melee down in the trench. I kept supporting them as well as I could from my position.

Which was really well, considering the melee caused mass panic and everybody to stand up and fight. I was unloading full mags into panicked WF packed in the trench like fish in a barrel. It was complete chaos with Newlin, Volk, and Kopman attacking like mad men possessed. Each of them had taken one of the enemy's machetes in one hand and had their side arm in the other. Hacking and shooting the insurgents in the tight confines of the trench. I kept the eastern reinforcements at bay with my occasional warning potshot whenever I could. Only thing is I was running out of ammo. And fast. Before I knew it I had run through seven mags of ammo and was halfway through my eighth mag when my team had cleared the southern portion of the first trench. The 'snipers' on top of the roof had spotted me and had tried to hit me. Most of them were near misses, but one shot did catch me in the shoulder almost knocking me off my perch. I returned fire forcing them back under their cover.

Looking back down towards my Team. They looked slightly winded, but other than that they looked okay. They looked to be taking a breather so I used the rest of my 5.56 NATO rounds on keeping the WF off of them to give them the rest they needed. As soon as I shot my last bullet I climbed off my perch and sprinted down into the trench. Looking around, I saw the mutilated bodies of various WF members littering the trench.

"How you guys holding up?" I asked the team as I join them down in the trench, holding my M9 and my Ka-Bar.

"Beat up, but alright. Those bullets sting like a motherfucker and some of those bastards are hard to put down. Seems like a few have their Auras unlocked. Bastard Qrow neglected to inform us of that." Kopman grunted as he switched out his mag, and gave me two fresh ones.

"Yeah Bastards nicked me pretty good." Volk said as he pointed to a gash on his bicep that he was bandaging. "Those fuckers are hard to put down. Takes a whole mag of 9 mil to put them down. Or just slash and stab the shit out of them until their Aura breaks. Then gut them like a pig."

"Sounds like a pain in the ass. How you guys doing ammo wise?" I ask the rest of the team while keeping my eyes on the eastern corner to make sure the WF there are still taking cover.

"We're all good ammo wise. Little low on 9mm, but if we could get some separation then we should be fine since we have plenty of 5.56." Kopman replied.

"Well shit mind handing me a mag or two? I'm all out." I replied showing him my empty mags.

"Alright here." Kopman said tossing over two mags while Volk tossed me another of his. "Conserve your ammo fucktard. We still haven't even gotten past the second trench."

"Well sorry. I was keeping the fuckers off your ass. And we still need to take care of the fuckers taking cover down this trench around that corner." I said nodding over towards the corner they should still be hiding behind. I quickly holstered my pistol and swapped out my empty mag on my M4 for a fresh mag. "Newlin on me. Volk you stay here with Kopman. I'm sure you guys can come up with a plan to take that second trench without getting the absolute shit beat out of us."

With a silent nod Newlin tagged along right behind me ready to approach the corner. As soon as we got to the corner I threw a frag around the corner and waited for the blast. As soon as it went off Newlin wasted no time diving into position and absolutely mowing down any opposition in sight. The five poor bastards didn't stand a chance. Mowed down without a chance to fight back.

We pushed forward a bit, just to check that it was all clear. Hate to end up with a bullet in the ass just because we got lazy. Up ahead a bit we spotted a few wounded WF insurgents sitting on the ground. One young male and two younger females. The young male was missing his right arm below the elbow and the two females each had nasty leg wounds respectively. Looking towards Newlin we both came to an agreement. There was no point in killing them to keep quiet since silence went out the fucking window. They weren't a threat and they didn't look much older than high schoolers. The two girls were shitting themselves and the guy tried to look tough, but it was obvious he was terrified.

As I kicked their weapons away from them and approached, I looked towards Newlin, and said, "I'll take the leg wounds, hand me your TQ, I'll get them stabilized. Call in the Bullhead for dustoff as soon as we can." I said to Newlin as I opened my IFAK and walked up to the closest girl. She flinched away from me obviously terrified. Until she saw that I was trying to help. As I applied the tourniquet I told her. "This will hurt a shitload" before tightening the tourniquet getting a cry of pain from her.

While I tended to her, Newlin was on the radio with the others. "Reaper One-Six, this is Reaper One-Four, I have two waiting for Dustoff, need Tango Quebec, Alpha Sierra Alpha Papa, Over." After a moment, his Radio crackled, and we heard boots headed our way.

"One Four to One Six, hauling ass, over." Kopman's voice responded. They finally reached us, and both opened their IFAKs, Volk helping Newlin with the guy, and Kopman helping the girl.

While we were helping the wounded I felt a few bullets kick up the dirt around me. I immediately jumped on my patient to protect her from the fire. Kopman wasn't as fast and his patient took a round straight to the face dying instantly, much to the horror of the other two patients. I could feel the bullets wailing against my legs and arms as I kept her protected.

"INCOMING INCOMING! GET THE FUCK DOWN!" Kopman screamed as he shielded the male with Volk, while Newlin was with me, firing back.

"WOUNDED IN THE TRENCH! CEASE FIRE! YOU JUST KILLED ONE OF YOUR OWN!" Kopman continued, throwing a frag in the general direction of the incoming fire.

The frag did nothing to slow down the fire until Newlin spotted the shooters from up on the roof of the compound. Those bastards knew exactly who they were shooting on. They weren't just trying to kill us. They were aiming for the patients/prisoners. They weren't even paying attention to Newlin until he unleashed a torrent of bullets at their position causing them to either hide behind cover or die.

"CONCENTRATE FIRE ON THE FRIENDLY FUCKERS!" Newlin screamed as he hurled a frag as hard as he could up to the rooftop.

With the shooters suppressed, I dragged the female towards the other side of the trench to where she should be out of harm's way. Volk did the same for the male. Both of them were sobbing messes, apparently unable to believe that their friends just tried to kill them.

Once we were all together, we regrouped. Kopman had something similar to dog tags in his hand, which he offered to the girl I had dragged. It had a symbol with broken chains on one side and her name with other info on the other.

"Kopman we need to get these two out of here. They need to be taken to a hospital ASAP." I said as I ducked down after a few more bullets whizzed by my face.

"I agree. They don't want us to take any prisoners for a reason. This takes priority. Intelligence is the name of the game. We can come back and mop up whoever doesn't leave." Kopman replied before going on his radio. While on the radio something reminiscent of an RPG goes off near our position nearly missing the trench.

"Eyes on shooter?" I yell out asking if someone has eyes on the RPG.

"Fuck! No eyes on shooter." Volk yelled back.

"I don't got shit on the bastard either. Best bet is bastard is on the roof." Newlin replied while Kopman stayed on the radio throughout all the chaos.

"Alright! On three we lay down some fire on that goddamn rooftop!" I yell out getting nods in agreement.

Before I can start the countdown Kopman yells out, "Wait. We got an LZ roughly five hundred meter south east of our position. We got to haul ass. I'll take point. Volk you take the guy. Frias you take the lady. Newlin you watch our six. Now give me some fucking suppressing fire!" Kopman yelled as we unleashed a salvo of bullets on the enemy as he sprinted out of the trench and and towards the treeline. As soon as he hit cover he spun and called out for Volk to come next.

Using a ladder to help him awkwardly get out of the trench while carrying his objective, Volk made his way out of the trench. While he was doing that the rest of us kept suppressing fire on the rooftop. I spent the rest of my mag doing so. Leaving me with only one mag left. As soon as Volk made it to cover I picked up my own objective. She was short and light. Making it easy to shield her with my body. As I kept running, I felt a few bullets hit my back. Her wings made it slightly cumbersome to carry her. Regardless of the troubles, I made it to cover without a hitch. As soon as I hit cover Newlin sprints to us as Volk and Kopman give him some suppressing fire. Honestly blowing through our ammo much quicker than I would like. It's going to be a meat grinder when we come back.

With Newlin joining up we make our way towards the LZ. In the distance behind us we hear cheering. Idiots must be thinking they've won. Oh how horribly wrong they were.

As we keep running I see the clearing up ahead with the Bullhead hovering above.

Just as we were about to breach the clearing I hear a guttural yell behind me. "Get over here you bastard human filth!" I turn around at the voice just in time to narrowly avoid being skewered by a Katana. It nicked me in the right bicep barely missing my objectives head. Getting a terrified yelp out of her.

My assailant was a man with long red hair tied back in a ponytail with bull horns poking out of the hair. He was wearing a black and red kimono type thing shirt with an intricate White Fang mask. Behind him were five others also carrying various swords all looking rather confident.

"You won't be leaving here alive. None of you wretched oppressors will never see the sunrise again." He said before lunging at me and my objective before Kopman tackled him to the ground.

"Get the prisoners in the Bullhead now!" Kopman ordered as the rest of the insurgents surged forward.

Newlin stepped up and unleashed a salvo of rounds from his M249 killing one of the attackers before the rest pounced on him. I sprinted towards the Bullhead and tossed my objective in while Volk did the same. As soon as we secured the prisoners the Bullhead got the fuck out of dodge. We sprinted back towards Newlin who was trying his best to hold off his four remaining aggressors. For his troubles Newlin got a nasty slash on his thigh and a stab wound in his forearm. We came to his assistance immediately. I tackled the biggest opponent I saw. Going low grabbing him from around the thighs before lifting him up and slamming him into the ground.

It stunned my opponent slightly. I didn't bother paying attention to what was happening around me as I proceeded to just lay a beating on his face. He punched back clocking me in the face a few times, and I suddenly suffered the taste of blood in my mouth. I would say it was an epic fight, but after his aura broke I ended it by slicing his throat open with my Ka-bar.

Popping back up I saw Newlin on his last legs, quite literally. Unable to stand on his leg, sporting a large slash across his face diagonally. Volk was occupied fighting his own opponent. It was rough. We were exhausted and worn. From all our fighting and the punishment our bodies had taken. Those bullets don't kill but they do damage nonetheless. Our enemies on the other hand were fresh as a daisy. Bastards let the grunts weaken us instead of fighting us head on like men. Smart of them. Still a bitch move.

Regardless. I wasn't going to let my brother die without giving it my all. Sprinting towards his aid, I prepared to attack one of the guys ganging up on Newlin. Just as I was about to take him down from behind, I felt pain sprout from my shoulder. Looking towards my shoulder I see a Katana going through me in my shoulder and right into the spine of the guy I was about to tackle. I couldn't move I was stuck to this paralyzed bastard in front of me and some bastard behind me trying to yank the Katana free. Hurt like an absolute bitch.

So this is how I die huh? Katana? Can't lie, that's a pretty badass way to die. I can feel myself starting to lose a lot of blood. It's only a matter of time now I guess. I feel the Katana twist and pull out of me and I feel myself fall to the ground with the poor bastard in front of me falling under me. Looking towards Newlin I see him still being a badass trying to fight off his aggressor using his M249 like a bat. I reach down with my uninjured left hand and use my M9 to fire at the guy to give Newlin a better chance of making it. I'm going to die making sure I did everything to help them live. I feel myself getting weaker with every movement. I squeeze the trigger and end up hitting the bastard with three of my six shots. After the last shot I see their Aura go down and Newlin finish him off with a throw of his Ka-bar right into the heart. Good job you fucking faggot. You'll live. You're too tough to let that bitch kill you. Flopping on the ground, the last of my strength leaving my body, I looked to my left, and further down I saw Kopman on top of the bastard that stabbed me, beating his brains in with a rock. Good shit. My brothers will live. That was my last thought before I felt nothing.


	20. Cross to Bear

"Adios mi amor, me voy de ti, y esta vez para siempre, me iré sin marcha atrás, porque sería fatal-"

Is that Christian Nodal? I haven't listened to music in Spanish since I left for Afghanistan. Wait do I smell chorizo?

I opened my eyes and looking around I saw that I was back home in my old bedroom in my parent's house. The orange and blue of my walls decorated with Chicago sports posters brings comfort and tranquility. On top of my drawers I see my mass of sports trophies and ribbons I earned throughout the years. Were the last two years of my life a dream? I got up taking off my Chicago Bears covers and walked out of my room and headed towards the kitchen where I hear the music coming from. My dad always used to play music in the mornings on the weekend so none of us can sleep in. He always did hate us sleeping in, called it a waste of sunlight. Getting to the kitchen I saw a sight that brings tears to my eyes. My mom was over the stove flipping tortillas and singing along to the music doing a little dance along with it. Having a bright happy smile on her face that never ever seemed to leave her face. Looking over to the kitchen table I see my two little sisters with horrible bedhead mumbling like zombies and shoving chorizo and beans into their mouths. My dad was drinking his morning coffee and laughing at my sisters being pissed off for waking up at eight in the morning on a weekend. God I love my family. Never want to leave home again.

As soon as I start walking forward to join my family at the table everything goes white.

*beep…...beep…...beep*

Oh my fucking god everything fucking hurts like a bitch. My shoulder feels like it's on fire while everything else is a slow throbbing pain. I can feel the welts where every bullet hit me. Slowly I opened my eyes and flinched from the bright light of the hospital room. Shit, I'm still alive?

Looking around I see Newlin in the bed next to me, hooked up to multiple machines and his entire face completely bandaged. In the bed in front of me I see Volk also in a bed with his entire neck and right arm completely bandaged. Kopman was sitting on a chair in between me and Newlin. He looked alright except for the bandaging covering his forearm. None of us had been cleaned so we were all still soaked in blood and covered in the tattered remains of our uniforms.

"Kopman. Hey Kopman you awake?", I say trying to find out what the fuck actually happened to us.

"Shit man you awake already? Doc said you shouldn't be awake for at least another eight hours with the sedatives she gave all of you. Let me go and get her.", Kopman says standing up.

"Hold up man. What exactly happened after I passed out? I thought I was a goner."

"You almost were a goner man. You were on the verge. We almost lost your ass. We almost lost Newlin too. He lost his right leg. They couldn't save it. Volk got slashed on the right side of his neck, barely missed some major shit. He also took a pretty bad slash to the right bicep. I ended up catching a machete with my forearm. After you were down it didn't take long for us to finish off the rest of the bastards. As soon as it was clear, our eyes in the sky came down and brought us back in. Ozpin saw all the shit we went through. He told the pilots to come back down and save our asses. As soon as we are all lucid, Ozpin wants to talk to us."

"Well shit. That was a fucking failure of a mission then. We didn't even take the compound."

"I wouldn't say that. We took out a VIP within the WF ranks and we got some intel. I doubt the prisoners would have any issue with spilling everything they know after their own comrades made it very clear they were expendable. Now hold still I'll grab the Doc." All I could do was nod in agreement and watch as he left the room. Well, even if the mission wasn't a complete failure it was a clusterfuck. We almost died within a week of getting to this new planet. So much for these new powers. We did fuck them up pretty good though. We took out a lot of insurgents and still made it out alive. I guess we can consider that a victory. If anything it seemed more like a pyrrhic victory, but fuck it, we did the best we could. Our information was faulty. That was way more resistance than Qrow ever said. Fucker sent us to fucking no man's land. He only said a simple compound in the woods. Nothing about three fucking lines of trenches complete with barbed wire and snipers. And way more than one of them had Aura. Fuckers either set us up, or their intel sucks ass. I steeled myself, and took a deep breath. They may have known through some hidden means, and prepared for us. But who would leak that info…? As I thought of this, Kopman returned, Mallaurie in tow.

"That's amazing that you are awake already! The sedative I gave you should have put a man your size down for at least another eight hours. How are you feeling?" She asked as she grabbed her stethoscope and started checking my heart.

"Can't lie Doc. I feel like a truck hit me." I winced as I felt the cold of her stethoscope hit my chest just beneath my bandaging.

"Well considering you almost died on us I will consider that a mercy. We almost lost two of you actually. It's a miracle you both survived. We had to have both Tim and Michael donate blood even though they barely had any to spare. Their donations almost weren't enough. It's a miracle you all survived. We also learned that Aura infused weapons negates your prior advantages. Basically you don't have any protection against Aura based weapons. But Aura users have almost no protection against your weapons as well. You almost killed Miss Schnee the other day. She almost bled out. Your last three round burst of bullets completely penetrated her Aura. She has a punctured lung and was in life threatening conditions until she got to Vale Prestige Hospital downtown. They managed to stabilize her and she will pull through, but she almost didn't. She was very close to death. I wouldn't blame her if she doesn't return to Beacon after her traumatizing experience.

I tried to rub my face with my hands, but I couldn't because my right arm was in a sling. So all I could do was look down at my sheets completely disappointed in myself. Why the fuck did I go off the handle. I held my chin with my good hand as I fought back tears of regret . "Goddamnit. God-Fucking-Damnit!" I buried my face in my hands. I'm a Soldier. I'm supposed to live out the Core Values of a Soldier. And yet, a little girls insults, and I lost my cool. No. I broke. I fucking broke. I began to silently sob into my hand. I vaguely heard Kopman tell Mallaurie to let him handle it. A moment later, I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"What's going on man?" I heard Kopman ask gently.

"I lost my bearing Corporal." I replied.

"Nah. Cut that shit. I'm your fucking brother first and foremost. So as a brother, what's going on with you? On a deep level. It's a no shit that you lost your bearing. Why did you lose it. How can we prevent it from happening again? I need to help you, so gotta help me help you. Tracking Bro?" Kopman replied to me, sitting down next to my hospital bed, leaning his arm on the mattress next to my leg.

"Yeah I'm tracking. I just don't know what happened. I think all this stress just got to me man. I mean we lost everything. We are on a different planet. In a new war. And a prissy white chick tries to light me on fire. I just lost my shit man." I tried to rationalize it, but I know it wasn't stress. I just don't want them to think I'm a headcase needing therapy. I need to be alongside them on the frontlines, not in some office.

Kopman was silent for a moment. "Alright man. Remember though. If you ever need help, we're all here to talk about it. Alright man?" He told me, nudging my sore leg. Asshole.

"Yeah. I'm good. Could use some water though." I said. I felt absolutely parched. Well no shit, all that running and gunning without rest would leave anyone exhausted and thirsty.

"Sure man. I'll go grab some water. Just wait a second." Kopman said, standing up and turning around.

Before he could take a step, Mallaurie walked in, holding a glass of water with a straw. "No need Michael. I went to grab him some water. I figured he would be thirsty even with the IV drip we gave him. Cottonmouth is usual."

She gave me the glass, which I proceeded to chug.

"Since you are both awake and lucid I figure it's best to tell you this now." Mallaurie said with a great exhale. Oh great what is she going to tell us now?

"What do you need to tell us?" Kopman asked curiously as he took a few steps forward.

"Well you remember those body cams that Ozpin gave you?" Mallaurie said hesitantly. Oh shit I have a feeling it's not good news.

"Yeah? The ones that Oz gave us to monitor our progress."

"Well it seems like we had an issue with our database and someone leaked the footage of your fight to the media. Also your identities were also leaked to the public. You are now some of the most infamous people in all of Vale right now. It also painted a huge target on all of your backs." Well isn't that just fucking perfect. "Ozpin will discuss what actions will need to be taken from the point onwards. For now just focus on resting. You will be excused from class tomorrow so don't worry about it."

"Well that's great. I need a day to relax after everything we've been through."

"Oh there won't be any relaxing for you four from this point onwards. You four are celebrities now. Kinda. Enjoy your five minutes of fame boys." She said before heading to the exit. "Oh yeah, and Efrain?" she said turning around before exiting the room.

"Yeah?" I asked hesitantly. How much worse can my life get?

"Yang has been waiting outside for the past five hours. She's been worried sick. Should I send her in?"

I looked up to Kopman for help. He just smiled at me and shook his head. Fucking traitor. What was that bullshit about brothers? Fucking leaving me in the literal fire? Before I could tell her to lock up this room better than Fort Knox, Kopman opened his stupid face.

"Yeah send her in. Lover boy here needs some loving." He laughed as he made to leave.

I could only slam my head against the pillow in fury at my current inability to run like hell.

As soon as he was out of the room Yang came in like a woman possessed. Initially she looked pissed off, red eyes and hair on fire. Until she saw how fucked up I really was. Then she looked like she was about to cry. Fuck no. Go back to being pissed. I can handle a pissed off woman, but I can never handle a crying woman.

"I saw what they put on the news. It looked like you died. Do you know how scared I was? I almost lost another person I cared about." Yang said as she sat on the chair next to me and started sobbing.

Ah shit. Now what do I do? Apologize? Pat her on the back? I don't have any clue what to do.

"Umm. Well at least I'm still alive!" I replied with a thumbs up. Well. That was really fucking stupid.

"That's not the fucking point, dumbass! I almost lost you. Sophia almost lost you! How do you think she would feel? Huh? How I would feel? You insensitive jerk!"

"Well what am I supposed to do? This is the job! People die! That's life. This isn't a career where everything is sunshine and roses. I'm just a little ahead of you, but you'll be in my shoes soon enough. There's a war coming. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure that out. If you want out then just go home and be a civilian. Otherwise, be prepared to lose a lot more. That's the cold hard reality." I replied coolly. That's just how it is. It's kill or be killed. There is no happy ending in this story. Just a lot of broken dreams and broken lives.

"Wow. You really know how to comfort a girl, huh dumbass. I know it's not all shits and giggles. I lost my mom in this career. I'm not asking you to promise jack shit because I know that they don't mean Jack. Just try to take care of yourself. How hurt are you? I saw on the news that you took a blade through the shoulder. Ruby puked when she saw that. I think she's still traumatized. Don't worry, I didn't let Sophia watch. She's back in my room with Ruby. She's safe. In case you were wondering."

"I know she's safe. She's with you. And yeah I've been better. My shoulder hurts like shit and my whole body feels like it's been hit by a car."

"Makes sense, considering how many times you got shot. They lit you guys up and yet you still kept fighting on. They are nicknaming you guys the Iron Hammers. It's almost a pun. Since its a play on your team name. So I approve of it. You guys are tough sons of bitches. Just pick your fights better. You would need a full army to have taken that base. In fact a full division on Valean officers was sent to take care of it and they still suffered more than half their numbers lost. And that was without any Aura users left."

"Well we were acting on your uncle's Intel. According to him it shouldn't have been so tough. Just twenty or so WF grunts and one Lt. according to him."

"So what. My uncle led you to a slaughter on purpose?"

"Or the Intel was leaked and they were expecting us."

"Who would want to do that? We're all on the same side aren't we?"

"You never know." I grunted. "There are many people out there who could benefit from killing off a few Huntsmen."

"Well. I need to go back to take care of our daughter. I spent most of the night waiting here. I'll be back tomorrow. Goodnight." Yang said before standing up and walking out.


	21. Popular Reality

After Yang left I stayed up with Kopman. Since we had nothing better to do we decided to turn on the television. After a few commercials about cheesy soap operas the news began.

"Good evening, This is Lisa Lavender and you are watching evening news on VBC. Tonight we have a breaking story. Coming in from what appears to be leaked footage, earlier today, a covert operation was performed by a group of Huntsman, directed by Headmaster Ozpin. They attacked a well defended outpost manned by the White Fang outside of the city walls. The operation was caught completely on video thanks to body cams that the Huntsmen were wearing. As previously stated, an anonymous source leaked this footage to various news sources. They also leaked information on the Huntsmen that participated in the operations, however there is still much left unknown about these brave huntsmen. They seemingly appeared out of nowhere, and made a name for themselves instantly. No family and no known homes. If anyone knows more about them it would be appreciated if they came forward. The city of Vale owes them a debt of gratitude. They neutralized a hostile threat on our borders and led the way for police to take over one ton of unrefined dust and various caches of illegally procured weapons. Sadly, no WF Operatives made it out alive, excluding the two seen on video being saved by the Huntsman in a strange turn of events. We reached out to Beacon for more information, but currently they made have no comment. The tactics they used were unlike any before seen, and the utter brutality of their fighting methods terrify the masses. But are they the brutal saviors Vale needs? Next on the hour we have Professor Marcos Medici, expert on Sociology and Psychology, to explain his thoughts on the matter.-"

"A fucking shrink is gonna tell them about us?" Kopman looked at me incredulously.

"It's the media man. It's always bullshit. I'm just glad they didn't completely demonize us." I really don't need some fucking hippies on our ass treating us like shit. What happened to Vietnam Veterans should have never happened. It still pisses me off.

"Yeah in all honesty they should bow down and suck our dicks after doing that much." Kopman joked with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah? That's the only way you are getting your dick wet huh?"

"Oh fuck off! I need to get some shut eye. I'll see you in the morning." Kopman said while getting up and moving towards the exit.

"Yeah I'll see you in the morning."

(0700 Next day)

"Rise and shine ladies!" Kopman yells out waking us all up. "I know you're all hurting and sore, but Oz needs to talk to us." I buried my head in the pillows. I was feeling a bit better, but I was still nowhere near 100%. Then I hear a gut wrenching yell from Newlin.

"Where's my leg! Where's my fucking leg!?" Newlin panicked and his heart rate spiked causing Kopman to sprint over to him.

"It's alright man you're good you're good." Kopman says while hugging him trying to console him.

"Where's my goddamn leg!" Newlin says as he starts crying.

"Hey man it's all good. You are going to be just fine brother. They got some high tech shit here. You are going to be good as new in no time."

"They can give me a new leg?" Newlin said calming down a bit.

"Yeah man that's what Oz told me. So just chill and relax man. You can stay here. I need to take Volk and Frias with me to talk about some shit. Apparently we are all famous now. Watch the news I'm sure it'll amuse you."

"Ok man I'll be fine. You guys go on ahead." Newlin said calming down a bit and laying back down.

"Alright then Frias and Volk with me. You guys only had upper body injuries so I know you idiots can walk just fine." Kopman said as we got up. Shit my body is sore as fuck, but I can walk. We are all still in our fucked up ACU's except for Kopman who took a shower and is freshly dressed. We said so long to Newlin and made our way towards Ozpin's tower.

Along the way we made quite a commotion. It was right before classes were scheduled to start and the hallways were filled. Volk and I were bloodied, tattered, and slightly limping. Our uniforms were stiff from all the blood they were soaked in and completely torn to shreds. Various students were filming us on our way and we could hear the mass of whispers following us. It was annoying, but we had to just ignore it and keep moving along. Along the way I saw Teams RBY and JNPR, I gave them a nod in acknowledgement before moving along.

It took us a while, but we eventually made it to Ozpin's office. As the doors opened we saw Ozpin, Glynda, and Qrow all waiting for us.

"Qrow you fucking asshole. Your intel was complete bullshit! You led us straight into some fucked up bullshit!" Kopman yelled getting all up into Qrow's face.

"My Intel was good! This wasn't on me!" Qrow yelled back pushing Kopman away from him to take a swig of his flask.

"Calm down Gentlemen! This wasn't an issue of Intelligence. We believe that who ever leaked your footage also told the White Fang you were coming. The footage was leaked shortly before Daniel Taurus and his group of Nighthawks confronted you. I believe that they were confident you would be killed and that your deaths would be filmed. It backfired because you won, but nonetheless someone is able to hack into our technology. So until further notice everything will be communicated by pen and paper. At least until we can secure a means of communication. Now we have to deal with the pressing issue that all of your identities are well known and now this is no longer a war in the shadows. We have to get out infront of this and direct the narrative. So I am scheduling a press conference here tomorrow. All four of you will be present alongside Glynda and myself. We have the popularity, might as well use it to our advantage. Gain public support. So I want you all looking as sharp as possible tomorrow. You will be excused from class tomorrow as well. We have your school uniforms ready. You will be wearing these during the press conference since you are representing Beacon Academy. For today I need you to talk to the prisoners we captured. See what information you can get from them. That will be all gentlemen. Glynda will lead you towards where we are keeping the prisoners."

"Yes please follow me. Remember that the prisoners are nervous and scared. Please make it seem as little of an interrogation as possible. They are both extremely injured and Miss Gwen Eberhardt has lost her right leg. Tact is needed." Glynda said leading us to the elevator.

Oh boy this will be fun. Just what I need. Another emotional female.


	22. More than Bones

While we made our way down to the area that they were keeping the prisoners Glynda decided that it was time to give us our freshly printed contracts. We told her we would get them back to her when we had a chance to read into them. Word to the wise, never sign something without reading it thoroughly. We don't want to unwittingly sign away our freedom.

It took us a while to finally reach the floor where they were being kept. As the doors opened we were exposed to a dark, dreary, and damp cavern. Following Glynda we made our ways down the cavern and to a hallway with dim and ominous lights leading us towards a series of prison cells. Almost medieval in appearance. Inside two of the cells we can make out the outline of two cots with people laying on them.

"Shouldn't we move them to a better lit and more welcoming environment? It's hard to make it seem like its not an interrogation when we are in a literal dungeon." I asked Glynda.

"Whatever you wish to do. All we care about is results. If you think a more welcoming environment will help then that's what we will do. Go grab a pair of wheelchairs from Mallaurie's office. I'll head over towards an unused office where you can do as you wish to the prisoners." Glynda said.

"Aren't there laws we need to follow as far as treatment of prisoners is concerned?" Kopman asks from his place next to me.

"No. Prisoners of War are not afforded any rights. As long as you don't kill them you technically can do whatever you wish to them. They are insurgents in the eyes of the law. The death penalty is usually enforced in these cases. However since they were captured by you and since Beacon is technically outside of Valean Judicial Jurisdiction you can decide their fates. Ozpin does not look kindly upon unnecessary deaths so that punishment is taken off the table. Everything else is fair game. Best of luck Gentlemen I'll send you the information about which office you are assigned." With that Glynda left us with the prisoners.

"Alright Frias I want you to come with me to get the wheelchairs. Volk I want you to head to the cafeteria. See if you can get us a bunch of grub and water. I'm sure they haven't been fed since we saved them, and I'm pretty sure you guys are starving as well." Kopman ordered as we left for the elevator a couple minutes after Glynda left so that we didn't have to have another awkward elevator ride.

"Yeah I'm fucking starving get as much food as you possibly can Volk." I tell him as we slowly retrace our steps back to the elevator.

"Yeah I'll be sure to get a ton of whatever they are serving." Volk replied as we waited for the Elevator. After a while of waiting and joking around we finally got into the elevator and went about doing what we needed to do. Kopman and I went to the Medical bay and commandeered a couple of wheelchairs from their underwhelming supply of medical equipment. They really need to work on that. I'll bring it up to Ozpin tomorrow.

After a while we made it back to the elevator while Volk sent us a text telling us he arrived at the office. It wasn't too far from the cafeteria. Luckily. He didn't tell us what's on the menu, but after eating MRE's anything is pretty damn good.

Making our way down and finding the Cells we finally found our objectives. We chose the cell we would take at random. I decided to go to the one on the right and Kopman the one on the left. It was too dark to tell who was in which. Opening the rusty door into the cell I hear a scared whimper come from the cot in front of me.

"P-please don't hurt me. I'm not a bad person." She whimpered out trying to dig herself further into her cot, which only caused her more pain.

"Hey take it easy. We aren't going to hurt you. I'm taking you out of this cell." I calmly stated, trying to calm her down a bit.

"No please I don't want to die. You are just going to take me to court where you'll sentence me to death. Please just leave me here. I didn't hurt anyone. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I just wanted a warm bed and a full belly. I-is that a crime?!" She said starting to sob.

"No. I promise I'm not taking you to court. You are in Beacon. Not Vale. I promise on my life that you won't be killed." I said inching closer to the cot.

"Why should I trust you? You killed all my friends." She yelped back through angry tears.

"The same friends that tried to kill you and did kill your other friend?" I replied. Getting her to just sob harder. "I'm not asking you to trust me. I'm just asking you to bet on me. I'm the last chance for you in all honesty. Vale wants you dead. The White Fang wants you dead. I'm the only one that doesn't want you dead."

"What do you want from me?" She asked hesitantly.

"I just want to help you out. We can talk about that later. I bet you are probably hungry right?" I asked as I finally got close enough to get a good look at her. She looked like she had seen better days. Her face was dirty with two tear tracks trailing down her cheeks. Her blue hair was short, choppy and wild. Roughly chin length if combed out. She had an IV drip in her arm and her stump of a leg was well bandaged. Her black leather pants were torn to bits becoming no more than tattered rags. Her white vest was slightly torn up, but in much better condition. She slowly nodded her head that she was indeed hungry,

"Alright then let's get you some food okay? I know you don't trust me, but if I was honestly here to take you to your execution I would have dragged you out of here already." I told her plainly. She mulls it around in her head for a bit before agreeing.

"I suppose I have no choice. If you are here to take me to court I couldn't possibly fight you off and escape with one leg. I-im just scared." She says before breaking down and crying once more. Shit. I'm god awful when it comes to tears.

"H-hey it's alright to be scared. This is a fucked up situation. I don't want to see you get hurt. I want to help you." I said as I reached out and touched her shoulder causing her to finch away from me. I backed off and put my hands in the air. "Just let me help. I'm not going to do anything to you. I swear. I just need to lift you into the wheelchair. Okay?"

"O-okay." She hesitantly agreed.

"Alright. I'm going to grab you now. Just stay calm okay?" I said as I cautiously approached her for both our sakes. If she freaks out I could drop her and hurt her.

"Okay." She confirmed steeling herself even though she was obviously scared shitless. I carefully slid one arm under her thighs and one under her upper back. Carefully I lifted her up causing her to instinctively wrap and arm around my neck as she winced in pain. She whimpers slightly, but other than that she toughs through it. I turn around and gently lower her down onto the wheelchair causing her to cry out in pain.

"Sorry I know it's not the most comfortable seat." I apologized as she tried to keep from crying.

"I-its alright. It's just my leg. It's killing me. They didn't give me any pain killers after they took my leg. Only the anesthesia during the surgery. I guess I should be grateful they at least gave me anesthesia." She whimpered.

"I'll talk to Ozpin about giving you some pain killers. If he refuses I'll just give you some of mine." I told her as I got behind her and started to wheel her out of the cell.

"Why? Why are you so nice to me? I thought you hated us?" She said as she looked down at her hands. I decided to stop right before exiting the cell. I walked around to face her and squatted next to her. She didn't look at me so I gently lifted her chin so that she could look me in the eyes. She had fresh sorrowful tears trailing down her face. She looked so small and fragile.

"I never hated any of you. You haven't done anything to make me hate you. The WF are terrorists. It's our job to protect Vale. I don't have anything against Faunus. I hate your organization, but I understand why you would join them. In all honesty I don't blame you. Racism is a horrible thing and I despise it. I support you fighting for equality, but terrorism only further alienates your people." I replied wiping a few tears off of her freckled face.

"But nothing works! The only way for some of us to not have to sleep on the streets and eat at least once a day is to join the WF. Nobody will give us work and I refused to sell my body to live. What choice did I have?" She defended as she started crying once more.

"Hey hey I'm not blaming you for what you've done. You did what you had to do to get by. I can't hate that. Change needs to happen. My daughter is a faunus. I refuse to let her have to go through what you have." I tell her as I let go of her chin.

"You have a daughter? She's a faunus?" She asked curiously.

"Yep sure do. She's cute as a button. Has the cutest little kitten ears. I'm sure she would love to get to meet you. But first let's get you some food and see about getting you cleaned up. How does that sound?" I ask as I stood up. And started to wheel her out of the cell.

"That sounds really good." She said weeping quietly. God this fucking kills me. Makes me slightly less gungho about mowing them down like fish in a barrel earlier. How many of them were like her? Just kids trying to survive in this cruel world. Hell who am I kidding. I'm still a kid trying to figure my way out in life. Kids killing kids. That sounds about right. The young die over the conflicts of the old. It's a fucked up world. We just have to find a way to fight to make it better.

Along the way to the elevator all I could do was pat her on the shoulder reassuringly as she continued to weep. Getting to the elevator I see Kopman waiting for me with the other prisoner on the wheelchair.

"Gwen! Are you alright!? What did that bastard do to you?" The guy spoke out as soon as he saw us.

"They haven't done anything to me Darius." Gwen responded weakly.

"Alright that's enough out of you two. I'm hungry so let's go get some fucking chow." Kopman said opening the elevator door for us to enter.

"Lord knows how hungry I am. Hope that faggot brought enough food for all of us." I replied jokingly trying to lighten the depressed mood in the elevator.

"Eh, the cocksucker isn't that dumb. He definitely brought enough food for all of us." Kopman stated as we continued riding up. "Anyways. Why is your prisoner crying? What did you do to her?"

"Nothing I swear. She's just scared. Most terrorist are instantly executed after a not so fair trial." I replied.

"Huh. No shit. I don't blame her then. I would be shitting myself if I was in their shoes. You must have balls of steel bro." Kopman said down to his prisoner.

The prisoner, now named Darius, replied morosely, "I don't really care if I live or die. My purpose for living was killed right in front of me yesterday. My own brothers and sisters in arms killed my Fiancée. Death would be welcomed. At least I would be with her once more. Just promise you'll make it painless and with some dignity? I don't want to be strung up on display for the cockroaches that pass for a council."

"Darius don't talk like that! They aren't going to kill us! He promised me!" Gwen replied sobbing harder.

"They would say that just so that we would put up less resistance to our final moments-"

"Okay that's enough out of you. Nobody in this elevator is dying today. Except my patience. I'm sorry your girl was killed. C'est la vie, but keep your own emo fucking emotions to yourself. You aren't helping anyone by causing Gwen to lose her shit over something that isn't happening. Otherwise I will either separate you two or duct tape your fucking mouth. For Gwen's sake." I ranted back at him getting him to shut up.

The rest of the ride was silent with Gwen softly weeping. Leaving the elevator we wheeled them towards the office that Glynda gave us to use for the day.

Pushing them into the office, the smell of BBQ entered my nostrils. The same effect, coupled with Gwen seeing the veritable feast on display, eased the poor girl. Looking at the table, I witnessed Volk already smashing some pulled pork and baked beans. Wheeling Gwen over towards the far side of the table, I pushed her slightly into the table so that she could reach her plate. I then pulled up a plate for myself, and gestured her to go ahead. She hesitantly reached out and grabbed a rib and started nibbling on it nervously.

Darius looked on curiously "So you guys really aren't going to kill us. Unless this is our last meal."

"Geez what's this guys deal? We don't kill prisoners. It's against the Geneva convention." Volk replied wiping his mouth clean of BBQ sauce with a napkin and pouring himself some water. I took the pitcher of water and poured two glasses. One for myself and one for Gwen. Poor girl must have been thirsty because she didn't hesitate to down the whole glass in a matter of seconds. I refilled her cup again, much to her embarrassment, if the slight blush visible under all the dirt said anything. Then I turned to Volk and answered his question for him since Kopman was to busy chowing down on some mac and cheese to answer.

"They don't have the Geneva convention here. So, technically, the execution of enemy combatants is allowed. We won't do that. Obviously. But we were given free reign over what to do with them." I replied.

"Well that's fucked. So they are technically our slaves? Since we can do whatever we want with them. Damn this kingdom is fucked up." Volk shot back slightly disgusted. I can't hate him for that reaction.

"Well it was either that or being execu-"

"I'd rather be executed! Take me to the council. I refuse to live my life on my knees. I'd rather die!" Darius yelled out definiantly. Death before dishonor? I can definitely respect that. I agree with him, I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees. I like the fierce look in his eyes, the eyes of a warrior unafraid of the great beyond. Then a soft hand on mine breaks me from my train of thought. Looking down I see that it's Gwen's hand.

"If you really are as nice as you seem. I wouldn't mind." She said keeping her head down. Fucking Hell this is a fucked up situation. What in the actual fuck do you say in response to that?

"Well as touching as that sentiment is Gwen. It's unnecessary. We do not believe in slavery. You are free. Well not really. You are prisoners, but that can change overtime. However that's on you." Kopman says saving my ass from that situation.

"Well let's save our talks for later. Let's just enjoy some good ol' BBQ right now." I said, getting us all to calm down and eat in peace.


	23. Warrior Spirit

After we finished eating we separated the prisoners. Kopman took Darius to our room for safekeeping and locked him in the bathroom. While he was doing that Volk and I cleaned up the mess we left behind.

As soon as we finished cleaning up the room I moved to sit across from Gwen with Volk on my right. Turning to Gwen I say, "So, we just want to talk about some stuff. We just need to wait for Kopman. Is that okay?" I asked her, getting a nod in confirmation as she looked down at the table. She seemed slightly calmer thanks to the food we gave her, but she still seemed tense, like she wanted to flee. I couldn't blame her, but with her leg the way it was there is no way in hell she was going anywhere anytime soon. After a few awkward minutes of waiting for Kopman he finally arrives with a notepad and a pen. Perfect. We are going to need to document everything. I pull out my scroll and set the recorder app on.

"Alright Gwen this is all just for our personal documents and intelligence. If you help us and answer all our questions truthfully, I promise you we will do everything in our power to make sure you are given a comfortable living situation and a healthy diet. Does that sound good to you?" I told kindly and honestly stating.

"Frias might be too kind hearted, but as long as you are telling the truth he will continue to be your caretaker. However, if you lie during this questioning, then you will no longer be dealing with him. You will be dealing with me, and I'm your worst fucking nightmare. You got that?" Kopman said in a deep and dangerously quiet whisper, utterly scaring the shit out of her. Bringing tears to the corners of her eyes. So good cop bad cop it is.

"I promise I won't lie!" Gwen yelled out panickedly, looking like she was trying her hardest not to sob.

"That's good. That's really good Gwen. I appreciate that. You don't need to worry, okay? Let's begin then. Okay?" I say soothingly trying to calm her down a bit.

"Okay." She said agreeing.

"Great. now let's begin with some basics. For the record, I am Private First Class Efrain Frias, US Army, 82nd Airborne, 508th Airborne Infantry Regiment, leading the questioning of White Fang Infantry Soldier Gwen Eberhardt. Miss Eberhardt, I need you to state your full name for the the record please." I asked as Kopman prepared to start writing.

"M-my name is Gwen Eberhardt." She replied nervously.

"That's great. Now how old are you?"

"I'm twenty. I-i turned twenty last week." She said slightly more confidently thanks to the easy questions.

"Okay Gwen. Where were you born?"

"I was born in Vale in the southern districts."

"Do you have any relatives we could contact?" I asked trying to see if there were some family we could give her back to if she proved to not be a threat.

"N-no. My parents both died a while ago. They couldn't afford to go to the doctor and both got sick. I lost my little sister when s-she fell in a river. They found her body two days later." She said pushing back tears.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you. If you need a moment to collect yourself. Please feel free." I offered.

"No no it's fine. I'm fine. Please continue." She said steeling herself once more.

"Okay then. When did you join the White Fang?"

"I joined about three years ago, before we turned militarized. They offered shelter and food for any faunus that needed it. All I had to do was participate in a few rallies, and I had a full belly and a warm bed. It all changed when Adam and Sienna took charge. They forced any and all members to start training and begin raids. A lot of other members were more than excited for it, so they gladly volunteered for missions. All I had to do was stand guard. I figured it was fine. I just trained and stood around, then they'd give me food and a bed. I promise I never went on any of the raids. I knew about them and I knew they were bad, especially after Blake left us. But I never wanted to hurt anyone. I was just too scared to leave, because of what they do to traitors, and the fact that I would never be able to survive on my own." She rambled on. I had to cut her off when I heard something that piqued my interest.

"Blake? As in Blake Belladonna?" I questioned.

"Yeah. She was the Second-in-command of the Vale Division of the White Fang. Until she abandoned the Fang. It's a common rumor that it was a break-up in the middle of a mission. Because she was dating Adam. Well at least according to rumors. I can only really give you guys what I heard through the grapevine. The big shots never really bothered to tell me anything because I'm not really useful for missions. Considering I probably couldn't even intimidate a middle schooler." That was accurate. She was petite and cute. I'm sure if she cleaned herself up she would be adorable.

"Wait. She was second-in-command of the Vale Division of White Fang?"

"Yep. She was known as our best operative. She was primarily stealth and subterfuge."

I waved Volk over to me, and paused the recording. "Get to Ozpin, I want a BOLO out on Blake. All huntsmen in Vale are to track down, arrest, and bring to us one Blake Belladonna. Alive and well. Copy?"

"Yeah I copy. This is big. She probably was the one who tipped off the Fang. I'll let Oz know." Volk said running out of the room.

That done, I turned back to Gwen, and resumed the recording. "Other than personnel and the names of those in your chain of command, do you possess any knowledge of the whereabouts of any WF Leadership, or any upcoming raids or actions by the Fang, however long from now that you know of?" I asked her, leaning into the table a bit, intently watching her facial expression.

"Well. All I know of are the Outposts I've been to. Just been to five or six in the local area. If you give me a map I could roughly point them out. Not promising they are still stocked and have full personnel. But they will have been prior outposts used by the Fang."

Kopman was already up, going to find a map. Well then. Just the two of us. In this room. This was not an ideal situation for a questioning, but….what the fuck is a one legged kid gonna do to a US Soldier… that fucked up train of thought aside, I repeated the second part of my question. "And as for WF Operations coming up?" I asked.

"Well I heard about movement in one of the underground hideouts within Vale. They've been scouting the Valean Docks for something. I don't know what for, but it's something big. Apparently we have a new benefactor for the Fang. I know some from our outpost were going to be leaving next Friday for whatever is going on. My guess would be whatever is going down. It's going down that weekend."

I nodded, and took Kopman's notepad, writing down 'Valean Docks! Next Friday!' Placing it down, I looked back at her. "Do you know where the people leaving your outpost are going?" I asked.

"Something called an F.O.B. I'm not into military slang, so I don't know what it is, but they mentioned something about creepy ruins."

"Forward Operating Base, and do you know any places besides the Emerald Forest that would have old Ruins of the frightening species?" I nodded, taking back the notebook, and writing down her answers.

"Umm. There's three I can think of off the top of my head. There might be more. I don't really know. Maybe you guys would know more about that than I would. But off the top of my head we have Jericho, Valley Edge, and Mountain Glenn. They were all large failed settlements. But failed settlements are a dime a dozen. So it could be anywhere really. If I were you, I would focus on the docks, but if you want to go on a scavenger hunt then good luck."

"Allow us to worry about what we are going to do. Just focus on what you know." I told her trying to get her to stop rambling so much. "Did you know we were coming yesterday?"

"We were told some huntsman were coming, but that it was going to be an untested team of Beacon students. So they sent a bunch of Aura users to help us out. Including the brother of Adam Taurus. They were supposed to do the brunt of the fighting. We were supposed to be a last resort."

"Do you know who gave you this information, and if it was indeed Blake Belladonna?" I scratched down some more notes as I spoke.

"I doubt it was Blake. She didn't leave on good terms with the Fang. I don't really know who gave us the info. We were relaxing at the outpost then suddenly Joseph Taurus and his assassination squad showed up. They put us to work building trenches and lookout posts. Joseph didn't tell us much besides what I just told you." She replied massaging her hands a bit.

"Okay. So why did they want to kill you so badly?"

"I don't know. I-it must have been Joseph's order. He's a cruel, cruel man. Or at least was. He treated us like trash. He probably didn't want us to be in the situation we are in now. His brother probably wanted no Intel to be given to the enemy. He followed his brother like a loyal dog. I'm glad you guys killed him. He didn't have a kind heart like you do. Around him I only felt fear and cold. Here it feels warm and loving. Even if I'm forced to be your slave I'll be fine. As long as it's you."

"Wooah, wooah. No need for that. You won't be enslaved. We covered that." I responded slightly panicked. This girl must have some issues if she keeps wanting to be my slave.

"Please. I don't want to leave here! I don't want to leave your side! I feel safe! For the first time since my dad died I actually feel safe!" She said breaking down crying.

It pained me to see her like this. Poor girl had been through enough. I went around to give her a tissue and a side hug. But when I got close to her she latched onto me around my midriff and started crying into my stomach. I just awkwardly pet her hair and let her sob her heart out. That's what Kopman walked into. Well. I'm sure from his angle it didn't look as innocent.

"Oh for god's sake Frias. Can you get your dick out of her mouth so we can finish this? God you really need to learn priorities." Kopman yelled at me.

That got Gwen to let go of me and blush bright red.

"Ugh Kopman it wasn't like that."

"Well obviously it wasn't. Otherwise your dick would be hanging in the breeze right now. Now let's get what we need. You can go tongue her later if you want. None of my fucking business." Kopman said laying a map down on the table. "Now can you please point out the Outposts you remember staying at?"

All she could do is nod her burning red face and observe the map. She takes a minute analyzing the map before asking for a pen. Kopman hands it over and she begins to circle areas on the map. I looked over to Kopman, gave him the worst stink eye I could muster. He shrugged apologetically, and got on his scroll. Mine buzzed a moment later, and I quickly checked it. A text from Kopman was on the screen.

'Sorry Bro. Have to keep up the Bad Cop Routine. At least until we have what we need.' ~Kopman, Retarded Peasant

'I get ya, but for future reference, maybe something other than "cock sucking" could do.' ~Frias, Fucktard #2 

'Yeah, you're probably right. Will do so next time. My apologies' ~Kopman, Retarded Peasant

That done, I put my scroll away, and looked up to see Gwen finish marking the points on the map. She included the three Ruins that were of interest. Kopman nodded. "I'm gonna run this to Goodwitch for her to confirm. You finish up here, and then we move on to Darius." Kopman announced as he picked up the map and got up, walking to the door.

"Sounds good, I'll wheel her over to the room and swap them out for each other. I think she's told us what we need for now."

"Alright. Just get it done, we got the PR Nightmare to worry about after this." With that, Kopman left the room again. As I walked towards Gwen, I noticed her eying a plate of cookies sitting on the table where Volk had been. Greedy motherfucker he is. I walked up to her wheelchair, and kneeled next to her.

"You want one?" I asked her softly.

She nodded gently. "Yes please." She squeaked. I chuckled, and walked over to the plate of cookies, picking up one for her. Walking back over, I offered it to her, which she accepted happily.

"Thank you~" she said happily as she began nibbling on it. I just smiled as I wheeled her down the hallways. We went outside, and made our way to the dorms. Along the way, I noticed some people looking our way. That seemed to be a trend around here. We finally got to the dorms, and I was faced with a dilemma.

"Fuck. The stairs!" I facepalmed as hard as I could. This was just fucking great. I'm strong, but a wheelchair is quite unwieldy. Dangerous when going up stairs. How did Kopman get Darius up to the room?

"Alright Gwen. I guess I'm going to have to carry you up there. Is that fine with you?" I ask her. She nods her head happily as she continues to nibble on her cookie. It was honestly too cute.

With that, I reached down and picked her up. One arm under her thighs and the other on her lower back, right under her wings. She hangs on to me with one arm while the other one holds her cookie. I carefully carry her up the stairs. Being careful not to jostle her stump of a leg too much. Occasionally a whimper of pain or a slight squeeze of my neck let me know that she was in pain. Eventually, we made it to the room. By that time she had finished her cookie and had burrowed her head into the crook of my neck. God, I hope she doesn't become too clingy. I'm fine with it right now, because she's obviously terrified and clinging to anything that could protect her. It's a common instinct that I don't blame her for at all.

I booty bump the scroll detector since my scroll is in my pocket to get the door to unlock. Then using my knee, I awkwardly managed to get the door open. Walking into the room I see that all our ammo and weapons have been put somewhere else. My best guess is the closet. Going over to my bed, I laid Gwen gently on top of it.

"I'm going to go get your wheelchair. I'll be just a minute." I tell her as she makes herself as comfortable as physically possible. I had taken out her empty IV drip just after we had begun eating. It was in the way and not doing any good. She nodded in acceptance, before I made my way back down towards the abandoned wheelchair. It didn't take me too long to get back up, but by the time I got up there, she was already snuggled up and snoring into my sheets. Sheets that I'll have to clean, because she is still dirty from the battle.

Talking about dirty, her bandages most definitely needed to be changed. Mine as well. I'd change mine later, after I take a shower. I decided that I might as well change hers while I could. Going over to my shit, I rummaged around and grabbed some disinfectant, some Motrin, some gauze, and some bandaging. I also opened the bathroom door, to see Darius inside. He looked at me expectantly yet defiantly, not uttering a peep.

"Alright, I need to move you out. I need to change Gwen's bandages. Do you want me to do yours as well?" I asked him, trying to offer an olive branch.

"No. I'm fine." He said before standing up from the bathroom. He sat himself down on Kopman's bed. "Just keep your hands respectable in there. She's too trusting and naive. She's a good kid. Don't hurt her."

"I won't hurt her. She's a good kid. A desperate kid. Just got dealt a hard hand in life. I'll just clean up her wounds a bit then I'll take you down to the room for questioning."

"Questioning? You mean interrogation? You know what. Doesn't even fucking matter man. I'll tell you everything you need to know. Just promise me you'll gut those bastards. They took everything from me. I want you to take everything from them." He vented angrily. I can respect that. He lost everything and wants revenge for the loss of his love.

"You give us the info and we'll hit them hard."

"Be sure that you do that you son of a bitch. Brothers know you hit us hard enough." He said looking down towards his stump of an arm angrily.

"Yeah. We aren't people you want to fuck with." I say before heading over to the still sleeping Gwen. I gently shake her shoulder getting her to slowly wake up. Groans and little whimpers accompanied her slow ascent consciousness.

"Hey Gwen I just need to change your Bandages really quickly. Okay?" I tell her. All she does is sleepily nod her head. I lift her up getting a grunt of pain from her. Which also really woke her up.

"Why did you have to wake me up?" Gwen moans into my neck.

"Because I need to change your bandages so that your wound doesn't get infected." I told her as I carried her into the bathroom. I gently lowered her onto the bathroom toilet. I don't know if it was the cold from the seat of the toilet or just pain that caused her to flinch. Regardless I got her on the seat. Once she was more or less comfortable I quickly returned to the room and grabbed my supplies I had prepared. I also grabbed a cold bottle of water. I put everything on the vanity next to the toilet.

Grabbing some Motrin I told her to take it and gave her some water to help. She took the pills and chugged the water.

"Okay sweetheart I'm going to have to take your bandages off now. Please don't look at the wound. Okay? It's going to hurt a bit. If it starts hurting too much just squeeze my bicep hard and I'll stop. Okay?" I ask her gently.

I get a nervous nod and proceed to carefully peel off her bandages. After taking off the first layer of bandages, I saw the next layer below it, caked in dried blood. In actuality, the majority of her body was caked in blood and dirt. She desperately needed a shower, but I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to do that. I really don't need that added on my plate.

I slowly start to peel away the bandaging that's stuck to her skin. It was a long and arduous task. Every so often she would cry out in pain and squeeze my arm. Eventually the bandaging was all removed, exposing her cauterized stump. The cut was surgically precise, just above where her knee should have been.

"Okay this is going to hurt a shitload, I'm not going to sugarcoat it." I reach out and grab the towel I brought. "Here bite into this. It'll help."

She shakily takes the towel and bites down on it. I don't even give her time to worry and just pour hydrogen peroxide over the whole stump. I'm not a medic or anything, but this should be good enough to prevent an infection for now. I remember my parents using it on all the wounds I got as a kid. Because obviously I was a little dumbass as a kid who loved to do stupid shit and get dirty. For example, when I got a huge gash on my leg when I crashed my mini dirt bike as a kid. I remember my dad pouring the whole bottle on my leg. That shit hurt like a motherfucker. Especially with his heavy hands then spreading Neosporin all over it. Calling me a dumbass the entire time and making me promise not to tell mom.

I heard her muffled cries of agony and her shuttered breathing, breaking me from my train of thought. The stump was covered in bubbles as the hydrogen peroxide went to work. I know I technically shouldn't be using hydrogen peroxide, but it does kill most bacteria and cleans the wound really well. Her muffled screams of pain continue on for a little while, eventually dying down as she calmed just a tad bit. Enough for her to release the iron grip she had on my arm.

"Okay sweetheart, that was the worst of it you can stop biting the towel now." I said as I took the towel out of her mouth. I use the parts she didn't bite down on to wipe the tears from her face. I grabbed another unused towel and wet it. I used it to wash off the dried blood and dirt from her thigh, making sure to not go too high, even though I really couldn't even if I wanted too. Doc only cut off a portion of her leather pants. I cleaned what I could carefully and gently. As soon as I finished I gently placed some gauze on top of her stump. She gritted slightly in pain as I did so. Not really a surprise, since it's still a rather fresh wound. I carefully finished wrapping up her leg, leaving it looking much cleaner.

"Okay I'm done. You did great. Do you want me to lay you back on the bed now?" I asked getting, a quick nod in agreement.

Getting her approval, I gently picked her up and laid her down on my bed. She quickly snuggled back into the sheets, getting comfortable. Her sporadic wing movements made her seem like a little fairy trying to find a comfortable way to sleep. Turning to, Darius, I wheeled him out of the room. As I opened the door, he turned to me and sarcastically asked, "If I had a decent set of knockers, would you have laid me down like a little princess?"

"Oh shut up ya cocky bastard. It's going to be awkward enough when I'm going to carry you down the stairs."

"Stairs? You do know there's an elevator further down the hall don't you? Ohhhh wait. That's right! You're a bloody idiot mon." He said with a deadpan ass voice. "Besides, I can walk perfectly fine. I lost my arm, not my leg. The wheelchair is because I'm a little off center right now. Feels fucking weird being a couple pounds lighter on one side."

"Ah. Well. Let's take the elevator then." I replied

"Yah dumbass. Let's do dat." He said, shaking his head and causing his dreads to swing back and forth.

"No need to be an asshole." I replied as I walked towards the elevator.

"Ah yeah! The man that lost his arm is the asshole." He replied sarcastically. Honestly with the way this is going I was half expecting him to start chanting black lives matter at some point. Except this isn't home. People don't see color here, when you can subjugate a group of people on other factors. After all, Racism is just a way so that people can feel superior and special.

"Well if you weren't a terrorist you wouldn't have lost the arm." I shot back as we entered the elevator.

"There's a lot mo' to it den dat, ya bastard. I'm sure you kno' dat, t'anks to Gwen. She ain't no Terrorist. Girl 'as no hate in her heart, even if she has every reason to 'ave hate. She's a sweet pure t'ing. We ain't no monstah's! Well, not all of us. Da big mon is definitely a monsta' Dog." He told me as the elevator goes down.

"Well, you can tell me all about the Big man when we get to the office." I tell him.

"Ahhhh yes! The not Interrogation except it totally is an interrogation room." Jesus this guy is a sarcastic asshole. Can't blame him. I would be an absolute asshole if I was in his shoes. Hell, I would have shat myself just to fuck with whoever was my handler. Just an absolute nightmare, but I'm naturally an asshole.

"Eh fuck it. Call it wonderland for all I care. Same shit is going to happen regardless of the name." I told him as I pushed him out of the elevator.

"Am I goin ta get a lollipop and a nice looking woman is goin to ask me questions mon? Becoz if not, I want no fukin part o' none o' it!" He replied. I actually had to chuckle at that.

"You know for a man who just lost his fiancee, you are pretty quick to jump back into the game my man." I replied. Was that an asshole thing to say? Absolutely. But fuck it.

He just shot me a murderous glace. "Not wot I meant. An' you fockin' know it." He spat.

"Yeah yeah. My bad man. I get it. You lost everything. So did we. We lost everything, and now have to do everything ol' Oz says just to keep a roof over our heads and a full stomach." I responded.

"It looks like we aren't too different after all, bastard. We all in da same shit mon. Just a different day. We are one in da same. Just fightin' to live another day. It's da way of life, ya? Racism is what separates a huntsman and a terrorist. We are both fightin' for what we believe. We are all people. At the end of da day, we are all just expendable pieces on a chessboard fo' dose above us. That's how it is mon. We are all just expendable tools to dem. Now I'm just a broken tool with no use for a master, and you have been broken for a long time mon. I heard about da fight between you an' da schnee. You broken in your soul mon. I'm broken in body. We all hurtin', except fo' the big men above us. You have a good heart mon. I see how you been good to Gwen. Dat girl needs dat in her life. Take care o' her, maybe she can help you fix your soul too mon."

His words silenced me. The rest of the walk to the office, I couldn't reply to what he said. Just take it in. It's not like he's wrong at all. He's right about all of it. I'm pretty fucked up. I'll get through it though, I've always been able to get through it.

Coming upon the office, I opened up the door to see both Volk and Newlin waiting inside for me. Wheeling Darius into the room as soon as I park him on the opposing side of the table Kopman and Volk pull me out of the room. As soon as we are outside and the door is closed Kopman turns to me and says, "Alright, turns out that Ozpin knew all along that Blake was Ex-Fang. However, due to her exodus shortly before our mission, he has agreed to put out a BOLO on Blake. Also we need to prepare for the press conference soon. It begins in two hours so we need to finish this up quickly. I'll take point, you guys just worry about jotting everything down. Volk you write, because Frias has shitty handwriting. Agreed?"

It hurt, but I had to agree, my handwriting really was shitty.

"Alright then let's do this." Kopman said opening the door and walking inside. This time he sat in the middle with me to his left and Volk to his right.

"Let the Record state that I am Corporal Michael Kopman, US Army, 82nd Airborne, 508th Airborne Infantry Regiment. I am conducting this Interview of White Fang Infantry Soldier Darius Faulkland. For the record would you please state your full legal name and Age."

"My name is Darius Troy Faulkland, I'm Twenty Seven years old."

"Where were you born?"

"Ah I was born on an Island right off da coast of Menagerie. Ah, da Ocean is cryin' out fo' me." He replied sarcastically and dramatically. Honestly, I like this guy. He's a riot.

"Why are you in the Valean division of the White Fang?"

"Ah dat. Well I was a part o' de White Fang in Menagerie. It's legal dere. I was offered a chance to come to Vale an' 'elp wit da protests 'ere. So I went. I met Lisa dere. Love of me life mon. Beautiful like Calypso unda' a star filled sky. I stayed for 'er. She was everythin' fo me. Den da Fang killed her. I did not eva fight for da Fang. I fought for Lisa. Now dey Killed her. So ya gonna let me help you avenge her, ya?"

"One question. What's with the accent? You were talking pretty normal earlier."

"Ah dat? Well dis is how I talk naturally. Bastard got to me. I like ja bastard. Good man. I feel more good chill from him, Ya. Is there somethin' in yo' undies dat's all in a knot about it?"

"No, not at all. Just curious. So when exactly did you join the Fang?"

"Oh, many, many years ago. Back when Ghira was da big man. Good man. I was sad to see him stop bein' da leader. Sienna and Adam don't have heart like him. He cared about all Fang. We was a family. Now we are scraps to be thrown out like trash. Fock em."

"I see. So is there any useful information you could give us?"

"Oh yes I can. Lisa always volunteered for missions. So I have to go wit to protect 'er. I know where da big bases are. We 'ave two big ones. One in Southern Vale an one in Mountain Glenn. Been ta both. I 'ave seen Adam at both. We also 'ave a human 'elping now. A man called Torchwick. He has a lil one 'elping him. Also Human I think. We are supposed to attack da Docks next Saturday. Steal Dust from da Schnee. Big mission. Bullheads. Enough for three hundred man and women. Lots of guns. A lot more den da Outpost."

"Thank you. That is a huge help. Definitely a point to start at. We'll use this info you have given us for now. Unless there is anything more that can help right now, we can end it here."

"Ah yes! Dis might be important. Two woman and a guy 'ad come to one of da camps earlier, all humans. Offered a lot of cash for our services. I 'ad left for the outpost after that, but I 'eard that most of the camp was killed later. Den two days later we 'ave to work wit humans. Maybe dey have something to do wit it. Da Leader 'ad Black hair an pale skin. She 'ad a red dress wit gold in it. Da other lady had green hair an skin like mine. She wasn't wearin much aside from 'er leather pants. Da man ad' silver hair and pale skin. Wore a Black, Blue, an' Silver Hunter's outfit. Maybe dat'll 'elp."

"Yeah, that helps a ton, we'll be sure to keep a look out for a trio looking like this. We'll do what we can with this information. Volk will grab a map and ask you to verify all the locations you can possibly remember. Frias and I will go and finish up some documentation. Corroborating what you told us with other information we have on hand." Kopman said, standing up and nodding his head for me to join him.

Standing as well, I left with him, and we had a little pow wow outside the room.

"So how should we go about corroborating all this info?" I asked as I followed him.

"Oh that? I was just talking out of my ass. We have to get ready for the Press conference. Newlin obviously won't be going. He lost his leg. Dudes a badass, but even he'll need sometime to recover. We need to shower up and throw on those snazzy school uniforms." Ah, that makes sense.

We made our way up to the room, generally being idiots. Entering the room, I heard Gwen before I saw her. For such a little thing, she sure does have a powerful snore. Kopman looked at me, then to her, before just shrugging and going with the flow. Grabbing his Beacon Uniform, he hopped into the shower.

I parked myself on Kopman's bed and chilled while he took a shower. Roughly five minutes later, he finished up showering, I hopped my ass into the bathroom. Taking off my torn up Uniform, I peeled off my bandaging and saw the angry, red, and swollen wound on my shoulder. I hopped in the shower and watched the water turn a murky reddish brown as it cascaded down my body. The hot water felt like heaven as it relaxed my tired and weary body. Scrubbing away the grit and blood took forever. I wish I could say some poetic bullshit about how the blood never washed away no matter how much I scrubbed. But that would be a fat lie. The blood didn't bother me. It didn't take too much scrubbing to get myself nice and clean. It stung like an absolute bitch though. I had cuts and nicks all over my body, and I could feel all the welts on my body intensely. God, that sucked.

After finishing my shower, I gave myself a once over in the mirror. My hair had grown a bit, enough for me to comb over. I probably needed to shave too, but fuck it, First Sergeant isn't here to get on my ass about it. Besides, I think Kopman has forgotten about the existence of a razor and is now rocking the beginnings of an actually badass beard. Almost makes him look cool. Almost.

Putting the beacon uniform on, it fit perfectly. Too perfectly. How the hell did they get my measurements? Even the inseam was on point. Honestly, under normal circumstances, I would have lost my shit over this, but I had honestly started to give less and less of a shit. Fuck it all. If I was going to have to deal with all this goddamn planet's bullshit, then I was going to just have to be an absolute badass. Beard included. Maybe a few more tattoos down the line? Fuck it, why not. I smeared some Gel into my wet hair, and gave myself a messy combover. I decided to go with the slightly roguish look. Hopefully it'd attract attention away from the fact that my body feels like it went twenty rounds with both McGregor and Mayweather.

Stepping out of the room, I saw Volk waiting with Darius, chilling on Kopman's bed.

"Sup Volk. How'd it go? Finish up all the intel?" I asked him as I stepped past to grab my side arm and holster. What? Did you think I would go anywhere, unarmed willingly in this crazy nutjob of a world? Yeah fuckin' right. 'We ain't in Kansas anymore. We're in this fuck fest. And ain't it grand?' I thought to myself with a dark chuckle.

"Great. We got a lot of useful intel. I talked to Oz and he said for the safety of both Darius and Gwen that we will announce that they died of their wounds. We will be in charge of them for the time being. So I guess we just have to make room for them somehow. I noticed that Gwen already took your bed. Enjoy sleeping on the ground fucktard." Volk said as he hopped in the shower. In some dark, demented part of my mind, I hoped he dropped the soap.

"Don' look at me mon. You try an' take dat bed from 'er, 'n' she a hit you wit' dem puppy eyes. Bring da grown man ta tears, aye? Don' even try bastard."

"Can you stop calling me bastard?" I asked exasperatedly

"HA! You a funny mon Bastard. I t'ink im beginnin' ta like you, Bastard." Darius said laughing to himself as he laid back.

"You know what? I like you Darius. Bastard is a fitting name for Frias. Wouldn't you agree Bastard?" Kopman said, chuckling. I mentally added Kopman to the list of people I wished would drop some soap.

"Oh go fuck yourselves. I would beat your ass, but I just took off my ass beating shoes. I'll get your asses later." I told them as I started filling the 9mm magazines.

"Oh I'm so scared!" Kopman said dramatically, before joining Darius in cackling at my misfortune.

All I could do was flick them off as they continued fucking around. I couldn't even be mad. In all honesty, I had to struggle to keep the grin off my face. This is what home felt like. This is what it's like to have brothers. Darius wasn't one of us yet, but I could tell then, he would fit right in with us misfits someday...

Somehow, throughout all the ruckus, Gwen slept like a rock. We got ready and took Darius with us. Volk didn't bother to shave either. Huh. Guess we all subconsciously came to an agreement. We all decided to let Gwen sleep. That settled, we made our way to the Headmaster's office. The three of us all looked rough and rugged in our rather sharp uniforms. Fresh bandaging covered our larger wounds. However, the various cuts and nicks that covered our faces and hands were clearly visible. The facial hair and shaggier hair just added to the overall badass vibe.

Getting to the Administrative Building, and after a painfully long Elevator ride, we walked into the office to see Ozpin and Glynda waiting for us.

"Gentlemen, thank you for arriving quickly. You can leave Mr. Faulkland here for now. We will be going to the auditorium for the press conference. Be warned, the media has already arrived. Also, please allow me to make the opening statement before fielding any and all questions. Legally, you are not obliged to answer any questions. So if you do not wish to answer, feel free to keep it to yourself. Speaking of keeping things to themselves, I'm pretty sure there were more of you. Where is Mr. Newlin?" Ozpin asked taking a sip of his coffee.

"Newlin isn't going. He needs time to recover." Kopman responded for all of us.

"Wouldn't it project a stronger image to the public if all of you were present?" He questioned.

"Not if he isn't ready. The man lost his leg. He needs time. I won't allow my soldier, not just that, my brother, to be paraded around for the media just to make a goddamn political point. That's not the kind of bullshit that I will stand for. I know you wouldn't ever do something like that intentionally. I can handle a lot of shit, but I will not tolerate one of my brothers being used as a political tool. Wittingly or unwittingly. You got that?" Kopman squared up as he spoke.

"Don't you speak to your headmaster in that manner!" Glynda spoke out harshly, before Ozpin got between the both of them.

"Calm yourselves. I merely suggested that he be present. I won't force the issue. I will admit that it was rather shallow of me to push this all on you. Its merely that time is not our ally at the moment. I wish we had more time to prepare, and I apologize for the suddenness of it all. Please, just let us to be on our way." Ozpin spoke as he entered the Elevator and waited for us to join him. Leaving Darius in the office, we joined him. It was pure silence the entire trip to the Auditorium. I would have thought he would at least coach us on what to say. Not that I'm saying I would listen. Just that it was what I was expecting. As soon as we reached the doors to the back of the auditorium, Ozpin spun around and faced us. "Remember Gentlemen. Just allow me to make the opening Statement. After that, it's all you. Just remember the event is being filmed live on the local news channels."

With that said, he opened the doors to the back of the stage. Ozpin lead us to the actual stage, where we were greeted with a mass flurry of flashes from all the reporters. We followed Ozpin to a table on the stage where there were a series of microphones for the different news companies. Ozpin took his seat on the far side, with Glynda standing behind him, not taking a seat at the table even though there was obviously a seat available.

*Ahem* Ozpin cleared his throat, before speaking into the microphone in a calm and professional manner, "Good Afternoon. As you all may know by now, a Beacon Academy Huntsman team was involved in a mission outside the limits of Vale, against White Fang Terror Group. I can confirm that Team METC was indeed involved in this incident and that it was a sanctioned mission. Beside me are the students that were involved in the mission. In order, from your left to right, there is Corporal Michael Kopman, leader of Team METC, Private First Class Efrain Frias, and Private Timothy Volk. The last member of Team METC is currently recovering from injuries sustained during the mission, but is expected to make a full recovery, and will be back in the fight soon. This press conference is a chance for the public to familiarize themselves with this team. They are the future of Beacon. We will not allow the Fang to run rampant any longer. We will do what the Council has been so hesitant to do. We will take the fight to the Fang, and protect any and all citizens. We will be glad to take assistance from the Council, if they are willing to join us in this venture. However, we will go it alone if needed and the council would be fools not to see the threat before us. I yield my time to questions."

Immediately there was a mass of yells, until Ozpin pointed to a random reporter. The crowd piped down somewhat at that, and the man began to speak. "Renald James of the Vytal Inquirer. How did you come by the information to find this White Fang outpost? And is this truly a declaration of war between Beacon and The White Fang?"

"That is classified, and I wouldn't say it's a declaration of war. This is an operation against a insurgent group. Similar to exterminating a bandit group. The only difference is that this a much larger threat." Ozpin replied.

"Isn't that essentially the same as declaring war?" Renald James pressed.

"Alright listen here you little shit. It doesn't fucking matter what you jerk offs call it. At the end of the day the same shit is happening. A lot of people are dying and going to continue to die. That's the reality of it. I don't care what you fucktards call it. It's all the same fucked up shit." Kopman replied harshly.

"So. It is a war." The same reporter idiotically asked.

"Next. I don't have time for stupid questions." Kopman shut the guy down and point to someone else.

"Lisa Lavender of Valean News Network, what do you have to say about the footage of one Efrain Frias savagely beating Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the SDC, one of the most powerful families in the world." Lisa asked. I decided I should answer her question.

"Well considering I'm the one who beat the absolute shit out of her, I think I should answer that. First I want to repeat that this was a sanctioned spar with supervision. We are training to be Huntsman. We take a beating in there so we don't take a beating out in the field. If she can't handle one real fight, then she has no business being a Huntress. Secondly, she initiated the fight. She wanted to fight me, because she was an arrogant little bitch. She believed that she was superior, and that we had no right to be in same class as her. Simply put, I just gave her a lesson in humility. She needed to learn that she isn't number one, and that there isn't special treatment. People die doing this work all the time. If she isn't willing to put her life on the line for her comrades, then she has no business at Beacon Academy." I replied.

"Do you agree with that sentiment, Professor Ozpin?" Lisa Lavender asked.

"While I will not comment on her standing at Beacon Academy, I will agree that changes must be made in terms of her attitude and ideals, and our method of Training for such a Dangerous Trade. Weiss Schnee is the perfect example of this. She has much to learn. While I do not appreciate the extent of the injuries sustained by Miss Schnee, she did agree to a fight, without Aura limit. She wanted it to be personal. Mr Frias simply complied with her request." Ozpin answered. "Next question."

"Vance Johnson of National News Agency. Private First Class Frias, do you personally have a vendetta against the SDC? Seeing as you not only effectively trounced Miss Schnee, but your adopted daughter is a Faunus, and you were recently seen with the Niece of Ghira Belladonna." An older man with white hair asked.

"One. I don't know what racist and evil bullshit you were taught in school, but Faunus happen to be people too. If anything, I'm surprised they haven't completely destroyed the human race, what, with our feeble eyesight and hearing, not to mention their insane physical strength and agility. Pure luck was what kept the Faunus from destroying us. Second, is that a threat? Mentioning two people very close to me? Vance Johnson. One thing you should know. I don't take kindly to being threatened. Doubly more so when it's my loved ones. So let me make this straight before you shove your foot in your face any farther. Fuck with me, you fuck with all of us. And trust me, motherfucker. You won't like the result. Just ask the Fang. Now please, continue with the next question."

"I was making no such threat, rest assured. Your daughter's existence is public record, and we aren't stalking you. You did stick out in the Faunus section of the city. Usually when a Human goes in the area, there's a story to follow." He said, placatingly putting his hands up.

"Well, that's pretty fucked up. Not only are you only interested in your next story, you freaks think letting kids starve to death just because they are Faunus is okay in any capacity. We are all one in the same. We all are born to die. We all suffer and struggle. The only ones who are truly different from us are the rich elite. The ones that never toiled or suffered a day in their lives. So yeah you can say I have a bit of a fucking vendetta against the SDC. But hey, I hate all of the fucking rich motherfuckers equally. I'm an equal opportunity hater. And who the fuck is Ghira Belladonna's Niece? Tell me, Magic Eight Ball, why the fuck is that detail so important?"

"Uh. Emily Belladonna. You were spotted exiting her apartment and traveling through Vale together. Her Uncle is the Chieftain of Menagerie. I would believe that is rather important."

"No comment."

"So you didn't know?"

"Like I said, No comment."

"Can you reply with something rather than no comment?"

"Are you Special Ed? What part of no comment is so hard to understand?"

"Well, the SDC would rather you say more than no comment. Since we are suing you, and Beacon Academy for Assault, Defamation of character, Injury due to Negligence, and sexual harassment. I hope that your lawyer has a quicker wit than you certainly do." A cocky looking man in a pure white suit with neatly trimmed brown brown mustache and eyeglasses spoke as he bust into the room. That M9 on my side, all of a sudden, felt like it would look good against my temple. Fuck me. With a shovel.


	24. Media Day

"Let me get this straight. You're telling me that you're suing a Combat Academy, for Combat Related Injuries?" I ask incredulously. Seriously. That's like suing the pool for getting wet. It's well beyond retarded. Should I ask him if he needs a special helmet?

"Not the injuries, rather the neglect that led to the Injuries. We are also suing you for slandering the Schnee name on national television. We are suing a said Caleb Newlin for Sexually Harassing Miss Schnee earlier in the week. In actuality I have a long laundry list of charges that will be brought down upon you to the furthest extent of the law." He replied in a manner that made me want to smack that smug smile off his face.

"I believe that is where you are wrong. You can not try these students. Nor can you charge Beacon Academy since technically Beacon Academy is separate from the Kingdom of Vale. Unlike Atlas, we have a separation of Academy and State. Legally Beacon is considered its own independent territory in order to reduce political influence on matters that affect the betterment of all humanity. It was part of the Vytal Accords. I'm sure you must have heard of them, unless, of course, Atlas is as self absorbed as they say. I can certainly say that will never cease to amaze me. The level of arrogance your people have. You have no authority in Beacon Academy. Within these halls, I am the law. So if you would kindly remove yourself from the room, we would like to continue our prior press conference. Or would we have to have you physically removed on live television?" Ozpin sassed. Well not really sassed, since he spoke in such an even and calm tone. But all the sass was meant in those words.

"Why! I never! You will be hearing from us!" The lawyer said with an uppity tone before turning around and leaving through the doors.

"Alright. Now that, that farce, has ended let us continue. Next question please." Ozpin said getting a roar of questions. "Questions not relating to what just occurred." Following that, all the hands except for one went down. Ozpin suggested that she speak.

"Where did you all come from? There are no reports of any of you existing prior to your entry to Beacon." Lisa Lavender asked.

"I can answer that question." Kopman answered. "We came from the United Settlements of America. A series of fifty different settlements in the mountains between Vale and Vacuo that banded together to form a United Force. We were members of the US Army, before a horde of bandits, mercenaries, and grimm brought about it's destruction. We were away on a mission to scout out bandit positions when it happened. We didn't return in time and every settlement was slaughtered to the last women, man, and child. Well as far as we know. We are the last of the Americans here on Remnant."

"I see. So why would you take on this battle instead of just trying to find a peaceful life away from all of this? Why go on the offensive? Why not take a backseat to this fight and just let the Fang exhaust themselves, or better yet wait for the Council to resolve the issue? I'm sure the members of the Valean Security Forces are more than enough to handle the Fang."

"Are you asking why we would rather fight than just hide and live out the rest of our lives in peace?" I spoke up.

"Yes. Why would you choose war over peace?" Lisa asked plainly.

"Alright, let me just set the record straight. There is no argument over whether peace or war is better. However there is only one true way to have this peace and you can have it in the next second, surrender.

Admittedly there is a risk in any course we follow other than that, but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the fact that you, our well meaning liberal friends refuse to face. That appeasement gives us no choice between war and peace. Only to fight or surrender.

If you continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, then eventually we will have to face the final demand, 'the ultimatum', and what then?

When the White Fang has told its followers that they know what your answer will be. Have they told them that you are retreating in fear of them? That someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary because by that time we will have been weakened spiritually and morally?

They believe in this because of your cowardice and your belief that humanity would rather live on their knees than to die on their feet.

And there lies the road to war, because your voice doesn't speak for the rest of us. My Team and I do not believe that life is so dear, and peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin? Just in the face of this enemy?

Or should the Faunus have stayed in slavery? Should the patriots of Vacuo have thrown down their guns and refused to fight for individuality?

The martyrs of history were not fools, and your honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of Tyranny didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple fucking answer after all.

WE have the courage to say to our enemies that there is a price we will not pay! There is a point beyond which they must not advance!

A famous man from our nation named Winston Churchill once said that the destiny of man is not measured by material computation, when the great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we are spirits, not animal. Churchill also said, 'There is something going on in time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty.'

We have a rendezvous with Destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on remnant or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

So yes when the time comes we will fight. We will fight them on the beaches, in the streets, in the forests, building by building, block by block. We will fight regardless of whether we stand alone or we stand united. We fight to protect this bastion of civility from chaos and those who would commit horrific atrocities against the innocent." There was a moment of silence and a lack of flashing lights after I finished speaking.

"Well as moving and powerful as that sentiment may be. It still doesn't answer the question of why you fight. Your words were motivational. Make no mistake about that. I'm sure it motivated many people, however it still didn't quite answer my question." Lisa asked once more.

"Why fight? God how many times I've heard that question. You know, my parents hated that I joined up? Everybody constantly questioning why I joined up and I would have to come up with bullshit reasons like patriotism, financial reasons, because I wanted to be a badass. It was all bullshit. I joined because I just didn't have a place. I hated school and I sure as hell wasn't going to spend the rest of my life being a goddamn loser, living in my parent's house. Everybody kept moving on with their lives and I ended up being the black sheep of the family. My sisters were beautiful prodigies that would make our family proud. While I was the loser that the family was ashamed of. Of course they never said it, but I knew it to be true. Hell I even signed up hoping to die in battle. So that my parents can at least say they were proud of me and that maybe people can say I was a hero. I just wanted to maybe leave my mark and make somewhat of a difference before my time was up. I didn't expect to find my place in the Army, but I sure as Hell did. I love these idiots. They are my brothers. They gave me a reason to not only live, but to fight with every fiber of my being. So now I can honestly answer why I fight. I don't fight for political, religious, or any other fucking reason. I fight for the man to my left and to my right. I fight to protect my brothers." I responded bitterly.

"That's nice and all, but with the destruction of your nation. You don't really have a reason to fight anymore. This fight, arguably, isn't yours. You don't need to fight. So why do you fight if you have no reason to?" Lisa asked once more.

"Oh, but we do have a reason to fight. When we enlisted we swore an oath to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States of America. America is not a place. It's an Idea that bleeds in the heart of every true patriot left. So long as we fight and spread our ideals, America will never perish. Hope will never be lost. A wise man once told me 'America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.' I do not fear the Fang. I don't even fear death. I will fight to my dying breath to insure that American virtues live on even after I am long gone."

"So you are going to try to rule Vale under your ideals? Isn't it enough to just have a way to run away and live a peaceful life?" She asked curiously, leaning a bit forward. Obviously interested in my response.

"I really didn't want to preach but, I'm sorry. I really don't want to be an emperor, king, or ruler and neither do any of the guys. That's not our business. We don't want to rule or conquer anyone. We honestly want to help everyone if possible. Faunus, human, rich, and poor alike. We all want to help one another, people are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We do not want to hate and despise one another. In this land, there's room for everyone, and the good land is rich, and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful. But society has lost its way. Greed has poisoned men's souls. Has barricaded the world with hate and intolerance. Has goose stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives us abundance has left us in want. Our Knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life would be violent and all would be lost. Bullheads and CCT have brought us closer together, the very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men. Cries out for universal brotherhood. For the Unity of us all. If I was speaking to the millions around the world. Millions of despairing men, women and little children. Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those I would say. Do not despair! The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed and the bitterness of men who fear the way of progress. The hate of men will pass, and councilmembers die. And the power they took from the people will return to the people! So long as men die, liberty will never perish! To the White Fang insurgents I would say this. Don't give yourselves to Brutes! Men who despise you! Enslave you! Who regiment your lives! Tell you what to do, what to think, and what to feel! Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men! Machine men! With Machine Minds and Machine Hearts! You are not Machines! You are not Cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You do not hate! Only the unloved hate. The unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In my religion there is a line written by Saint Luke that says 'The Kingdom of God is within man!' Not one man nor a group of men! But in all men! In you! You the people have the power! The power to create Machines! The power to create happiness! You the people have the power! The power to make this life free and beautiful! To make this life a wonderful adventure! In the name of Democracy, let us use that power! Let us all Unite! Let us fight for a new world! A decent world! That will give man the chance to work! That will give youth a future and old age a security! By the promise of these things, Brutes have risen to power! But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise! They never will! The elite free themselves! But they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason! A world where science and reason will lead to all men's happiness! Now you might say that I have no reason to fight. But I see every reason to fight. Me and my team are truly blessed. We're blessed with the opportunity to stand for something. For liberty and freedom and fairness. These are things worth fighting for. These are things worth dying for. A wise man once said that the two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. I found out my purpose not too long ago. My purpose in life is to make sure that my daughter grows up in a world where she doesn't have to fear for her life, simply because she is a Faunus. Where she is not treated any differently for her ears. Where she can live a long and happy life. That is worth dying for. If I die I want her to be able to remember what I fought for and that my sacrifice was not in Vain. I don't want to run away in order to accomplish this, because I know there are countless other fathers who think the same way I do. Yet they have no ability to escape, they are left praying for a miracle. I will do what it takes for those families to get their wish. And if I die doing so. Then so be it."

"Well Supposedly The White Fang are fighting for Faunus rights or superiority. So if you wanted her to live a better life, shouldn't you be supporting the Fang?" She asked.

"Ma'am. I am not going to lie to you. I indeed initially agreed with that sentiment. Fight against the establishment to create a better life for my daughter. Because the current establishment is very much to blame for many of the woes currently plaguing the Faunus Community. However, I took a second to think about it. Just looking at history, you can really see why It's not a good idea. See the people at the top, well they get to do whatever they want. At least until the people at the bottom of the system wisen up. Then they start to cry out for revolution, because they got tired of living in destitution. Can you tell me what's the best solution to that situation? See, I used to think that the best solution to the issue was to overthrow the Oppressors, the elite. Because If we destroyed the system, then that means we'll have less of the systemic corruption and greed. But see it's not that simple. I got to thinking about human psychology. And then I realized something that made me feel that revolution was never the right way. Just think about it for a second. I'm sure we've all heard stories about children in abusive households growing up to become abusers themselves. That's what's called a cycle. Abused becomes the abuser, and that's how life goes. It will go on and on. One group being the oppressed followed by the roles switching endlessly. That isn't the way for equality. Equality is made by being able to reach across the aisle to the other side, and offering an olive branch. I am going to do so myself. Here's my olive branch. To all the White Fang members. If you turn in your arms and turn yourselves into Beacon Academy I promise full immunity and protection. There is no need to fight against us. Beacon Academy is not your enemy. Your position of threatening the lives of innocents has made you an enemy. Any White Fang who do not turn themselves over to Beacon Academy by the end of the week will be considered hostiles and will be terminated with extreme prejudice. We understand the desire for equality. We will help you fight for it, but the way that the White Fang is going about it will not result in anything except for further hardships for your people. Our people. We are all one in the same. There are no differences between our people. We all have dreams, aspirations, desires. I solemnly swear to treat any and all White Fang insurgent that turns themselves with the utmost respect and humility. There is no need for us to be enemies. We are not your enemy. The Council. Well they can speak for themselves. We are unaffiliated with the Council and hold no love for them."

"Why do you hold no love for the council?"

"Why should I hold any love for a council who obviously doesn't care about their citizens. Just taking a look at the Faunus section of the city and seeing the lack of Council efforts to help them made them an adversary in my eyes."

"Strong words for a group that you earlier stated you would not mind fighting alongside."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Temporary friend. If they want to help us out, then that would be appreciated. However that will not make me like them. They have to do a lot more than simply doing what they should have been doing all along."

"A lot more like what?"

"Well they first need to take out that stick up their ass, and actually care about the people they are responsible for and not their wallets. That's the first step. Then we can talk from there, but until that happens, they can consider themselves my enemy."

"I believe that's enough for today. This Press conference is over." Ozpin said before standing up and marching off the stage. I guess that's our que to bounce. I'm pretty sure I just made a lot more enemies, but fuck it. Works for me.


	25. Camouflage

"So, how'd it go?" Darius asked cheekily as we walked into the office. "Did dey ask any stupid questions?"

"'Did they ask stupid questions?' That in itself is a stupid ass question." Volk answered with a lot of sass. Did I smell a roast? Yes I fuckin did. Volk. Was. Toast.

"Oh okay. Be like dat den. Here I am, try'n ta be decent, and you get yo' nuts in a knot about it? Ay, Bastard. Since da fat one doesn't want ta play nice, you tell me how it went." Darius delivered with ease as he leaned back in the chair he sat in.

As Volk proclaimed his indignation at being called fat, I chuckled and took a seat next to Darius. "As well as you'd expect, what, with a load of Racist motherfuckers asking loaded questions every five fucking seconds. And to answer your first question, yes. It's the media. One thing that was the same both back home and here, is that the media loves to ask stupid questions. How some of them graduated Special Ed, I'll never know."

Darius laughed at that, as did everybody save for a certain librarian. She looked like she wanted to take my head off.

"Well yes. While this is all amusing. I'm sure you must know we have made ourselves enemies of the Council. I don't know if you've taken into consideration how formidable of an opponent you have found. The Council is, as you would call them, a group of power hungry greedy bastards. That you are correct in. However, they also have an army of Huntsman at their disposal, along with the entirety of the Valean Security forces. These Huntsman are more like mercenaries honestly, however they all have graduated from one of the four huntsman academies. They are the muscle behind the Council's will. They are numerous and powerful. I consider you take heed of the situation you have found yourselves in. We must tread carefully to not provoke this enemy you have created. Unnecessarily if I may add. There was no need to create this new enemy. I would love to reprimand you for this, however that would not change what is happening. We can't face them head on as we are. We have to play nice and not give the council another reason to come at us. Namely, YOU, have to play nice with the council. You understand Mr. Frias? I know you may not like them, however that is an enemy we do not need at the moment. Am I understood." Ozpin ordered me with an unusually fierce look in his eyes and bite to his words. Welp. He was absolutely pissed.

"Yes sir. I completely understand." I replied under his harsh gaze.

"Good. Now please leave me while I try to find a peaceful conclusion to this issue." Ozpin said ordering us out of his room.

The three of us left the room awkwardly. As soon as we entered the elevator Darius spoke up, "Well, ya done fucked up dat one Bastard. I like yo style Bastard. Tell em to go fuck demselves. On National Television? Ya got a pair of brass ones down dere mon. Much respect."

"Yeah thanks. I kinda fucked the pooch up there, but hopefully enough White Fang give up their arms to make a difference in all this." I replied in turn.

"Eh fuck dat mon. Don' worry bout a thin', dey will come. Specially cuz you told dem councilmen ta fock demselves. Da people follow men wit balls o' brass. You boys have 'em. After da beaten ya gave us, many will bow dere heads and come 'ere" Darius replied

"Yep that sounds about right. I hope they take my offer of amnesty. I want to preserve ammo." Kopman spoke up.

"I want ta say dat's focked up, but it make sense mon." Darius said somberly.

"It is what it is man. It's all bullshit at the end of the day. We kill, we die, we struggle, and we fight. It's all the same grind. No matter where we go."

"Aye. I get ya Bastard. Ey, tell ya wot, why don't we all jus' take da next two fockin' days off. Jus' take care of ourselves and shit. Ya?" Darius looked at us intently, a grin on his face.

"That sounds nice Darius. I need a good old fashioned drunken haze of a night." Kopman said as we made our way over towards our dorm. As we walked, we talked shit, traded stupid jokes, and basically had fun. It wasn't until we got to the room that shit got sketchy.

Kopman and Darius were leaning on each other as they laughed at something retarded Volk said, and I was just looking on with a look of disappointment as Volk shoved his foot farther into his mouth. I fought back a chuckle as I went for my scroll to unlock the door. Only to once again find myself face first in between Yang's little friends. Fuck. My. Life.

"Where exactly were you guys today during class?" Yang asked Inquisitively. Or should I say pissed as she pushed my face out of her bosom.

"Yo Yang. Just check the fucking news. You'll know then. Now I would say I would like to know how you got in here, but honestly right now I can give less of a shit." Just at that moment I felt my scroll buzzing. Grabbing it and opening it I see a new message.

'"Newlin Noodle Dick: Yo, so Yang wanted to know where you were, so I gave her access on her scroll to our room. Have fun brorrito."'

Fucking Newlin. Well that explains how she got here. I can't hate on him right now. He's probably drugged out of his mind right now.

"Also what's with the Faunus buried into your bed? Are you just adopting every charity case you see?" Yang pushed

"Yang could we not do this? If you want to know what's going on. Just check the news."

"No we need to talk."

"Ayy brudda. Take ya woman outside. Dis got nothin to do wit us." Darius spoke up.

"Fine. Fuck it. We'll be outside if you need us." I said as I walked out of the room, Yang hot on my tail. As soon as we were outside and the door closed, I spun on her and asked. "Alright. Why are you so pissed?"

"You want to know why I'm pissed? Alright I'll tell you why I'm pissed. I'm pissed because Team RWBY no longer exists. Weiss is leaving. And now Ruby isn't a team leader anymore. We can't compete in the Vytal Festival this year and we can't take a mission until we find a replacement. Which won't be until at least next year. All because you lost your fucking shit. So yeah! I'm pissed because Ruby is now crying in her room because her dreams of competing in Vytal are dashed, all because a nutcase couldn't fucking keep his cool."

"Do Not Fucking call me a nutcase! You don't know the shit I've been through. The shit I've seen." I said as I pushed her away from me into the wall. "Boo-fucking-hoo you don't get to compete at some festival. Who fucking cares. I thought you were training to be fucking warriors. Not circus acts to please the fucking crowds. This lifestyle is not a fucking joke. Many of the people you joke around and play with now, will end up six feet under because of this lifestyle. Grow the fuck up! You and your sister need to understand that this isn't a fairy tale. Get your head out of the clouds. There are lives on the line in our work. You need to be able to trust the person watching your six. I think I did you a favor getting rid of Weiss. She seemed like a Blue Falcon that would have cost you one of your lives. She was selfish and not a team player. That can be the difference between life and death in a bad situation."

Yang had no response, so I took my cue to enter the room, leaving her outside.

"Well, that sounded intense bro." Kopman spoke up as I pushed the door closed.

"Shut the fuck up Kopman. I'm not in the mood." I replied harshly before putting my headphones in and laying on the foot of my bed, using Gwen's legs as a pillow.

"I'm a Bad Man" by Stafford began playing through my headphones while I let the world around me fade away.

"-I'm a bad man, takin' on the world with gun in hand. Find my trail where the blood ran, cause I'm a bad man.-"

Am I a bad man? Maybe. I remember someone once told me that the moment a man chooses war over peace is. To choose damnation over salvation. To choose to walk into the 'Abyss' and say 'I am home'. That is the moment a man ceases to be and a demon is born. At the time it was said to me, I ignored it. Now. Now it rings true. We could have just made a peaceful life somewhere here. We could have laid down our arms and chosen a civilian life, but that never even factored in as a thought. So are we the demons now?

"-I'm a bad man, takin my time in the killing fields. Ripping the covers from the seal, cause I'm a bad man."

Man why does this song hit so deep right now?

"-I'm a bad man, tears like rain in the denizen. Heart of stone never gave a damn, cause I'm a bad man. I'm a bad man, clipping the wings of the Angels. Find my peace in the danger, cause I'm a bad man.

I'm a bad man, sell your soul for some silver. Take my love and then I'll leave her, I'm a bad man."

Then "Camouflage" by Sabaton began playing to get me out of my depressing funk. Fuck yeah! Gotta love the randomization of my playlist.

"-I was a PFC on Search Patrol, hunting Charlie down. It was the jungle wars of '65. My weapon jammed and I got stuck, way out, all alone, and I could hear the enemy moving close outside.-"

I felt my head begin to nod as I got into the beat.

"-Just then I heard a twig snap, and I grabbed my empty gun. As I dug in scared, I counted down my fate. And then a big Marine, with a pair of friendly eyes, appeared there at my shoulder, and said 'wait! Charlie, wants to tangle, now he'll have two to dodge!' I said 'thanks a lot'. Told him my name, and asked him his! And he said, 'The boys just called me Camouflage!'-"

As I listened to the song, I remembered the Marine from that day. Quebman. No hesitation. Fought like hell, even got a shattered shoulder blade, and still kept fighting. Saving my life, putting his own at risk. Other than that week and the funeral, I hadn't talked to him. Huh. I remembered that his Gunny said he was torn up about not letting me save Rodgers. Damn. After all that time. I never actually asked how he was doing. Fuck. That's a dick move. I paused the game, the music in the background as I remembered the fire fight. Fucker with his M60 mowing the Hajis down like grass. I briefly remember saying hello to him at the bar, but that was about it.

"-When I said his name, a Soldier gulped, and the medic took my arm, and led me to a green tent on the right. He said 'You may be telling the truth boy, but this here is Camouflage, and been here since he passed away last night. But before he went he said 'Semper Fi!' And said his only wish 'WAS TO SAVE A YOUNG MARINE CAUGHT IN A BARRAGE!'' So here, take his dog tags son. I know he'd want you to have 'em now.-"

Hearing that line, struck something. No matter what uniform or branch, we were brothers. 'Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratres Aeterni.' Roughly translated, it means 'Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever'. Quebman, Jarhead that he was, was my dear brother in arms. Sitting there, I wish he could be here. Or us back with him. Either way, the man fought and bled with me out there. He was a good man.

"Y'all remember Quebman?" I asked the room. Kopman nodded.

"The Machine Gunner with the 3rd MEU? Yeah. Fucker drunk us all under the table. And then proceeded to walk out of the bar perfectly fine. I felt bad for his liver." We all laughed at that.

"Yeah. Well, that's a Marine for you. They'll fuck anything, and outdrink the entire fucking Army! Well, after eating a 64 pack of crayolas though. I remember a Jarhead told me his favorite flavor was Atomic Tangerine." Volk chuckled. Him and Darius were fucking around with a scroll Volk had grabbed from Glynda for him. Against her wishes, but fuck it. I could tell. Darius was with us, a solid guy. Just caught on the wrong side of it all before this.

"Remember the one Recon Gunny during that one Village Patrol? Fucking ripped motherfucker. Dude fucking threw that one Haji like ten fucking feet." Again, laughter broke out, Marines used to do some stupid ass shit. But fuck it I respected the pure balls they had with some of the fucked up shit they pulled.

"Fuck. That was hilarious. If it weren't for Frias nearly being face fucked by that one RPG. Ducked just in time, and it smashed that mosque." Volk snickered, remembering the way we completely trashed those Al Qaeda fighters. I, meanwhile, was sweating under the collar. Aside from beating the shit out of one of the Fighters, the scenery and the RPG that missed me were dead on from when I trashed Weiss. Keep it cool. They didn't see what you saw. Keep it cool….

"-ias, yo! Frias. Ya wanna do some shit tonight?" Kopman was up in my face, his hand waving in front of my eyes. I pushed his hand away, middle finger at attention for him as I shot out my foot to kick his shin. My foot made connection, and I heard him give an indignant squawk as he fell backwards, holding his shin. "Fuck you." He grumbled as he got up and walked back to his rack, pulling out his M4 mags, and began to reload them. I need to do that as well. Eh. Later. I'm feeling lazy.

"As long as it doesn't end with us at the local jail for whatever reason I'm down." I replied as I cozied up on Gwen's sole leg. I have no idea how she was still asleep. Poor Thing must have been exhausted, she definitely need a shower too. She smelled rather ripe, but I've smelt worse. I wasn't going to be the one to wake her up so that she could clean herself up.

"I was thinking of heading down to the forest, have some stress release mowing down some of the 'dangerous' wildlife in the area." Kopman replied as he started field stripping his weapon.

"Eh, fuck it. Why not. I need some target practice anyways. Dealing with the media gots my trigger finger itching." I shot back as I sat up.

"What about Newlin Noodle Dick?" Volk asked. Kopman just shrugged.

"He's a cripple. He'll have to unfuck himself somehow. And probably fuck himself too. I know for a fact that he's probably hard as fuck, what, from Peach being in there all day. Gotta whack some of that pent up nut off." Kopman chuckled. I just facepalmed, but couldn't find it in me to argue that logic. Mallaurie was quite the catch.

"Wait! Sophia! Where the hell is she? I haven't seen her in awhile!" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet.

"Oh yeah. She's with Mallaurie. You can go down and see her before we leave!" Kopman explained. I nodded, and began to load my M4 Magazines. Each round I pushed in felt lighter and lighter. By the time that was done, fifteen minutes had passed.

"I'm going to go get Sophia, and then we can head out." I announced to the room. Kopman nodded.

"Yup. see you in a few." He acknowledged as he messed around with his rifle. With that, I made my way outside.

It was actually pretty sunny out, which was nice. The warmth from the sun was something I'd never take for granted.

Making my way towards the Medical Bay I get about halfway to the Bay before my scroll starts ringing. Looking at the screen I see it's a call from Kopman.

I answer it and before I get a chance to question why he's calling me Kopman roars through the Mic. "Get your ass to Oz's office stat. He sent me a message that we have urgent matters to attend to."

"Alright on my way." I replied before hanging up. All I could do was sigh before I pushed my broken and beaten body into a moderate jog towards the office. I meet the guys by the elevator. It seems like they left Darius in the room. Makes sense. This seems like an important meeting. We calmly wait for the elevator to arrive. It felt like an eternity. When we finally made it to the office we were greeted with a grim looking Ozpin and a distraught Goodwitch.

It was all explained in three words. "Atlas has fallen."


	26. Red Dawn

_21/8/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_When we left I told you this would be a quick and easy fight. We came to bring the great ideas of Lenin and the revolution to these oppressed compatriots. For the glory of us all against the capitalist pig Americans who try to turn the world against us. They do not know that Capitalism can never crush the rolling tide of Communism! However my dear Natashiya in these inhospitable lands I have come to learn that these people are not compatriots. They love their god more than they love their comrades. They fight like wild animals. However, like wild animals they are smart. They return to the wild after hurting us, every time. Forcing us to go out hunting for them. I have lost many comrades at the hands of these so called Mujahideen. I fear that I am forsaken to die in this cursed land for the motherland. I would gladly give my life for my motherland, but my only regret would be to not see you once more my love. If I am to perish, please care for my sister and my mother. I will do what I must for my country, I will love you always._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_2/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_You would not believe what has occurred! !t appears that we are no longer in Afghanistan. We slept in the base when suddenly an explosion rocked the camp. We all rushed to the perimeter armed for we had thought it was yet another Mujahideen attack. Yet when we came out it was no longer night and it was snowing. The cold bitter wind almost brought me to tears because it felt so much like home. We did not understand what was happening. At first we believed it was a new American weapon that caused us to go mad. Luckily Major Petrov brought us back under heel and calmed us down. We are all safe. The entire regiment was brought with us including all of our supplies. We even have our fleet of MI-24s with us along with a contingent of tanks. Over all just over a thousand comrades alongside with me to make sure we can face whatever we are headed into. Major Petrov will be sending an expeditionary unit out to scout out the local surroundings. Hopefully we find out where we are soon enough._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_3/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_Today our expeditionary units returned from their mission. According to the Major a mine was spotted roughly twenty kilometers west of our position. The horrible thing is what they found at the mine. They said it reminded them of the horrors of the camps that my father encountered in German controlled lands, with bodies being thrown to the side of the mountain haphazardly. Our scouts stated that the overseers wore elegant clothing and appeared to be the very picture of bourgeoisie. They also came to the realization that we are no longer on our home soil. We do not know if this is the afterlife or what, because those bodies were not entirely human. The bodies all had some sort of animal appendage. Sounding a lot like ancient Greek mythological figures. I'm sure you would love to have seen it, with your mind that absolutely loves all of the intrigue of mythos. The Major ordered us to depart in one days time to attack the mine. He said that it mattered not if the oppressed are not human. Anyone who suffers under the yolk of the bourgeoisie is a comrade. There was also the underlying fact that we needed supplies. We were not equipped with winter gear. Winter gear that hopefully we can find in the mines. It seems that even in the afterlife, our glorious revolution must live on!_

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_5/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_We took the mines and found plenty of warm clothing. It wasn't enough to clothe all of us in warm jackets, but with the warm facilities we took over it wasn't an issue. Many of the Jackets we wore still had the blood stains of their former bourgeois owners. They hadn't put up much of a fight. We didn't lose a single comrade during the fighting. They were caught off guard and the facilities were built to keep people in rather than keep people out. We slaughtered the Whites to the last man. We spared none of these capitalist pigs. The fat ones squealed like pigs as they begged for mercy before we ended their pathetic lives. The prisoners were wary of us at first, but as soon as they realized we were here to help many of them broke down in tears of joy. It felt good to have the gratitude and adoration of a people not of our own. The non-humans called themselves Faunus. They spoke English, which seems very odd and suspicious, but luckily we had a few officers who spoke the language. It also appears that we are in the Kingdom of Atlas, essentially a nation run by a series of wealthy, corrupt, and fat capitalist pigs. They told us of a group of Faunus who are fighting against the pigs for equality and freedom. Maybe they could become a valuable ally. Who knows, however, what is very apparent is that I must now learn English. As that is the only language spoken in the land. We now have the ability to feed and shelter ourselves for at least the next month if needed. This mine is a treasure trove of goods the likes we have never seen. The technology of this Atlas nation mystifies me. I never believed I would witness such things in my life. This is one of the greatest adventures I could have ever hoped for. However I would gladly give up all of this excitement to be with you once more._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_8/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_Much has changed since I've last written. We have come across some strange creatures who feed on humans. The Faunus we liberated call them Grimm. We have come to call them Demony Smerti. They die rather easily, the only problem is they are black as night. After our first night, when we lost three comrades in the dark, the order was given to retreat indoors everyday after dusk. We also found that the mine is also a processing facility. The amount of ammunition we found was enough to equip an army. However the ammunition only works with the weapons of the Whites. Our own Ammunition is now a limited resource. Major Petrov has told us that we are to limit ammo usage and that we need to salvage weapons from the Whites. We have come in contact with the freedom fighters called the White Fang. We have come to an understanding to support each other for the betterment of our causes. After all we both wish for equality and the end of oppression. It is only natural that they be seen as Allies. Our interactions with the White Fang has also enlightened us to the situation of this world we find ourselves in. This land has four separate Kingdoms, each ruled by a council. A council full of many rich, greedy pigs who prey on the weak and poor. It pains me to know the levels of greedy and oppression the people of Atlas suffer living under the rule of these cruel, evil Capitalists. The chiefest of them. Jacques Schnee, is the worst of the offenders. He is a vile, racist, and greedy pig, that has slaughtered and tortured the Faunus people for years. He profits off their misery and bloodshed much like the vile Tzars who used to force our ancestors to toil and spill blood for their gain. The mine that we attacked was one of his major mines. Surely it caused a blow to his operations and profits. According to our faunus allies the Whites had sent out an emergency signal. So we should be expecting a full on attack with in the next couple of days. We can only hope that our current supplies should be enough to ward off the attack of the capitalist as I'm sure they will have endless supplies due to their wealth. Should we end up victorious in this upcoming battle we can take the supplies from the fallen enemies. The Fang have promised to send us reinforcements and supplies from one of their strongholds near Mantle. They told us it would take roughly 2-3 days for that help to arrive. For now we would be on our own, however they believe that our manpower would be more than enough to fend off anything that the Whites send our way. We have taken to arming and training the stronger of the Faunus we freed from the mines. They were only too enthusiastic to take up arms against their oppressors. We currently don't have enough weapons to arm them, having to give them the weapons we took from the Whites. In the upcoming days of combat, we should be able to have enough weapons to arm all that wish to rise up against their oppressors and join our glorious revolution. The Fang have given us masks to wear in order to put up the illusion that we are just another group of Fang in order for them to underestimate us. Apparently the Whites believe themselves genetically superior to the Faunus. Sounds eerily similar to a former enemy of ours, no? Regardless, just like that enemy, we shall rise to the occasion and show them no mercy. I must go now and take my watch. I love both you and the Motherland, my dearest. Please care for my mother. She must be worried sick._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_13/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_I know not why I continue to write these letters, even if there is no hope of them reaching you. Perhaps it helps me deal with the reality of the situation, or simply gives me hope of once more returning to your arms. I know not which it is, however I will not fail to continue writing to you. Our story should be known. For if we are all to fall, there should be a written story of what we have accomplished here, and what we have fought for. These past days have been a trying time. We have lost a great many comrades in the last three days. The Whites came in a large convoy of one hundred and thirty fighters and laid siege to the mine. We fought them off and killed them to the last man and woman. However there were a few among their forces who were beyond our comprehension of skill. They were a formidable opponent, slashing through us like a scythe through wheat. However, bullets spelled even their end, however it took a great many bullets to do so. They did bring a great many supplies with them and after stripping the dead of their winter gear, a solid portion of our forces are sufficiently supplied for the winter. The vehicles we took from them were a great asset, allowing us to become a more mobile force. The best fact is that apparently the vehicles run on the 'dust' that is mined here. Essentially giving us unlimited fuel to strike deep into enemy territory. During the battle we lost roughly thirty men. However it was after the battle that we lost more. The Demony Smerti came in a large, endless swarm a couple of hours after the battle ended. We wasted a large amount of ammunition and lost and additional forty comrades to the Demony Smerti. We lost too many. However we must push on and forge our patch here. We have spent the last couple of days repairing our walls and improving our defenses. We dug a trench filled with spikes to encircle the mine. We decided to burn the bodies to prevent the possibility of diseases being spread. Our reinforcements arrived the day after the battle. They brought a scientist with them that has been instructed to find a way to recreate our bullets. Hopefully they are successful, since that would alleviate one of our greatest concerns. Morale has dropped significantly. The loss of seventy of us is a great blow. We spent a day in remembrance of our comrades. We also made a promise to avenge their deaths by taking the fight to the enemy. In the coming days large numbers of Fang fighters will be joining us in the mines. Apparently we are to become the new headquarters of the Atlesian branch of the Fang. I hope that these fighters are competent, and can help us take the fight to the enemy. There is still much left to fight for._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_26/9/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_The Fang fighters have arrived en masse. They brought with them supplies, weapons, and even more transports. The number of Fang is now equal to our own in the mine. There are a few incidences of friction between our two groups, but that is mostly due to the language barrier. A barrier that is slowly, but surely crumbling as we are giving it our all to learn English. As promised we have taken the fight to the enemy. We have liberated a few villages from the control of the Whites. We have suffered no more losses in this week, however the same cannot be said of the Fang. They prove to eager to fight, and end up getting themselves killed because of it. It makes for an efficient distraction, allowing us to flank the Whites easily, so if the Fang wish to throw their lives away. Well I won't be the one to stop them. They don't even seem remotely bothered with their losses, as thanks to us, they have gained more in these couple days than they have in the last five years. The locals however seem to be too loyal to the Whites. Either that, or their hatred and belief of racial superiority is so great that they refuse to bend to their will. They even attempted to rise up against our rule. However, they proved to be more easily tamed than the Afghans. A few executions brought the populace quickly to heel. Quite a few of our allies seemed squeamish of the executions, however they had no complaints with the results. Each village, however, had a small group of oppressed Faunus more than willing to join our ranks, causing our numbers to slowly increase as we advanced. Our MI-24s and RPGs assured us air superiority due to the fact that the enemies airpower was simply too slow and bulky. They seem to be mostly meant for troop transport. The Whites seem to have learned their lesson after their third failed raid the ended with over twelve aircraft destroyed and countless dead. Major Petrov has stressed the ideology of minimizing Soviet loss of life. We still contribute to the fighting, but we discretely allow the Fang to take the riskier and more dangerous objectives. Lately we have learned about Huntsmen. Remember the opponents that were difficult to kill? Well it seems like the Fang have a few of them themselves within their ranks. That has been a great boon for our cause, and has help lift the morale amongst the encampment. The Fang have mentioned that we have been mostly fighting SDC forces, which are apparently only loyal to Jacques Schnee. Apparently, the toughest fight would be against the Atlesian Military, which has been slow to mobilize thanks to a large 'Grimm Incursion' that threatened the outskirts of the capital. According to the Fang we have caught a lucky break, something which the Fang want us to capitalize on. But Major Petrov is a wise man, and has decided to keep on our slow, but steady advance. Making sure we consolidate gains and minimize losses. It irritates the Fang leadership, but I trust the Major._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_22/10/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_It's been almost a month since I've last written. We have continued the slow advance while maintaining very few losses. In the last month only five comrades have perished. The Fang have suffered considerable losses, however they continue to replace those losses with fresh volunteers from each settlement we liberate. Some White Fang regiments from Mistral have even arrived recently to assist with the cause. Their high leader, Sienna Khan even graced us with a visit. Many of the men were taken with her, as she is quite the exotic beauty. Not that she compares to you of course, just simply stating the trance that she has encaptured some of my comrades in. I assure you I was not one of them my love. This month was going better than any of the leadership expected. At least until today that is. This morning, the White Fang were all panicked. We awoke to the sounds of men and women running as fast as they could to their defenses. Whatever it was, they were terrified. I joined the Major and some of the other men on one of the Control Centers high up on the wall. What I saw shocked me. A convoy of vehicles. Large vehicles. They had stopped some distance away, just out of range of our weapons. I grabbed a White Fang Private that had been running past to his post, and asked him if this was the Atlesian Army. The only answer I got was a scared 'No' as the Private broke free from my grasp and headed off to his post. I turned back to the glass, and watched. I couldn't believe my eyes. You remember the history of Europe, and the Norsemen? I tell you, it was as if they had come out from the books and museums. There were at least twenty of them. Legs and torso covered with wolf skin and leather, their chests bare, and the skin head of a wolf on their heads. They were armed with rifles of strange design, as well as swords at their waists. They stopped, seventy paces from the gates. I can only quote what the leader said with reverence. Their leader was a man to be feared. "Slaves of the Man with a Snowy Name. Open these gates, or we will cut them down, and you with them!" The Major and his highest officers went down to where the rest of our men were preparing their weapons. The Major asked only for volunteers to go out and ask what the Norsemen wanted. I volunteered. I know not why. Only that I was one of the two that stepped forward. The Major, Lieutenant Georgy Petrov, and myself made our way to the gate, and stepped out into the outside world. We made our way to the Norsemen, each step forcing my heart into my throat. The Major had us halt about ten paces away, and continued to the Norsemen. Their Leader met him in the middle. They spoke briefly. All I know is that the Úlfhéðnar, as they called themselves, were not to be trifled with. Thankfully, they were only here to gather some supplies. Something they usually did from the Schnees, and almost always by force. The Major, was of course unwilling at first to lend precious food and water to this man. But after some talk, both men came to their agreement. After that, it was a whirlwind. We gave only from our own supplies, and the Úlfhéðnar were quickly on their way. It was as they left that we all began breathing again. The Major revealed that they were travelling South, down towards the territory known as Vale, where they would head North, and take up their Winter position as guardians of the Gates of ᚺᛖᛚ, whatever that meant. They had no quarrel with us this day. For that, we were grateful, and we had no issue handing over some supplies, seeing as we have made ourselves more than comfortable thanks to our conquests and allies. The White Fang, however seemed absolutely terrified of them. We couldn't get a straight answer out of any of them. All we could understand is that the White Fang did not consider them either human or Faunus. They just simply said to leave them alone and to give them whatever they want, they wouldn't mess with us as long as we gave them no reason to. Regardless of the situation we shall continue to press on._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_4/11/81_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_Today the most miraculous thing occurred. We had our 'Auras' awakened. I'm not entirely sure what it means, however it made us like the Huntsman. We became stronger and faster. My muscles almost feel like corded steel. This has been the most amazing moment of my life. The White Fang Lieutenants decided that they should give all of us including, their soldiers auras in order to better the odds. Apparently the Atlesian Military had finished dealing with the Grimm Incursion and now had its sights set on us. Why they didn't give us this magic before confuses me, however I am too joyous at my mystical powers to honestly care. We are all in joyous celebration right now. For the past week we have been preparing for the eventual might of the Atlesian Military. We dug trenches, established fortifications, and trained the White Fang in Guerilla Warfare. There is no chance of us winning this fight in completely open combat. Thus the Major has decided to lure the Atlesians into the mountains south of Mantle, where there are few to no roads and there are plenty of spots for ambush. We have taken all our supplies to the mountains and have hidden in the caves. The Fang had worked hard and created a series of tunnels throughout various mountains for us to easily send reinforcements to otherwise hard to reach locations. Unfortunately, we had to abandon the towns we had just freshly conquered. However, we left a great many surprises in and around the towns for the Atlesians. This would hopefully slow down and demoralize the enemy. The Fang were not too happy to abandon said gains without a fight, but Major Petrov convinced Sienna to agree with his plan. That was enough to get the plan in action. We will see soon enough how tough this enemy really is. I pray that I will see you on the other side._

_Sincerely,_

_Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

_1/1/82_

_Dearest Natashiya,_

_It has been some time now that we have last spoken. There has been much that has happened, with very little time to write. As I am writing, we are currently marching with our remaining forces on the Atlesian Capital. Our tactics worked brilliantly for the most part. The Huntsman were beyond our expectations in skill, but enough bullets will put even them in the ground. Since we have started our time in this world we have lost more than a quarter of our forces. Many comrades have fallen, however our losses seem miniscule compared to the losses of the White Fang and the Atlesian Military. Both sides were only too eager to close the distance and fighting in hand to hand. For the most part we have been used as ranged support. Firing from a distance and killing with impunity. The Fang scientists have recreated our bullets, however those require a great deal of resources to mass produce. Something we do not currently have. So we had to conserve ammo and pick our shots carefully. I can proudly say that with all this practice we are a formidable force of sharpshooters. The mountains were a great area to fight in as it allowed for plenty of cover and forced the Atlesian Military to spread out throughout the mountain range hunting us down. We made the White mountains stain red in blood. The Grimm were a non issue for us since we simply hid in the tunnels when they appeared. The same cannot be said for the Atlesians. To be fair, the Atlesians put up a great fight and decimated a large portion of our White Fang allies. However, they seemed too confident at the beginning of the war. They made for an easy opponent during the first few days of the battle. After losing a great deal of men they pulled back and re-organized. We burned their dead in mass piles leaving a cloud of ash to descend down upon the Atlesians. Turning the snow black. We burned at least five thousand bodies, we have no idea of the exact numbers since most of the deaths were from traps and mines, leaving most of the bodies a gory mess. After this initial success the fighting turned brutal as they changed thier tactics and learned from their mistakes. I'm sure if it wasn't for our well placed buried tanks and artillery we would have lost a great number of engagements. The enemy tried on various occasions to try to carpet bomb the entire mountain range. However the tunnels held up to the explosives and our RPGs and MI-24s caused them significant pain in each attempt. However we did lose three of our MI-24s and a few of our tanks in the raids. The Atlesians stopped the Air raids soon after, seeing that it did not have a real effect. Their Air Force did cause havoc later in the battle though; Coordinating close air support with ground troops. Most of my comrades fell due to these strikes. In the end we were victorious after countless weeks of suffering. Now as we begin, what is surely the new year back home we chase the beaten Atlesians back to their city. Where the glorious hammer and sickle will fly once more. The bourgeois will see no mercy at our hands. By the end of this month, we will see the bodies of Jacques Schnee and his wretched allies dragged through the streets before his body is strung up for the whole world to see. This I promise!_

_Sincerely,_

_Your loving Comrade Alexei Zhenka_

**Beacon Academy**

**Frias POV**

We watched the images on the screen with horror. Bodies lining the streets, buildings on fire, and various beheaded bodies hanging from buildings from their feet. We could only watch sickenly as a White Fang member hacks at the neck of a screaming man with a machete. We can't see everything going on in the city, but we saw enough thanks to the access Ozpin has of the CCTV system in Atlas. It's a little creepy how easily he can spy on another country, but that's a worry for another day. My main worry is that eerily familiar flag that a man dressed in a white snow suit is carrying. It looks a lot like the old USSR flag. Fucking hell! Is that an AK? Shit.

Suddenly a ringing is heard through the harrowing silence. Looking over towards Ozpin we see its his scroll.

Answering it and putting it on speaker he says, "It's good to hear your voice Ironwood. I'm glad you are still alive."

"I wish I was calling under better circumstances Ozpin. However I'm sure you've heard by now what's going on." A strong powerful voice is heard from the scroll.

"Yes, I am well aware seeing as I'm watching the massacre right now through your CCTV. What I want to know is how this happened so suddenly and if you have your precious cargo secured." Ozpin replied in a stoic manner, cool as a cucumber. However that bit about the precious cargo piques my interest.

"Yes the cargo is secured, along with the majority of my students and a small portion of my military. We are currently headed away from Atlas."

"Good. How small of a force?"

I could mentally imagine the wince that accompanied the momentary pause. "It's not good Ozpin. I only have a little more than a thousand soldiers and two dozen Huntsman, not including my students. And half of those number are too injured to fight any longer."

"I see...and how did this uprising catch the world's strongest military off guard?"

"It didn't. We have been fighting this enemy for the last couple of months. Jacques initially told us it was just a large White Fang offensive. However either he lied to me or his intelligence was incorrect. This enemy fought with tactics we have never seen before. They use both artillery and air support in unusual manners. Worse was the fact that the council denied me the ability to lead my own men since they wanted the 'personal pleasure' of routing the White Fang. They led my men to slaughter Ozpin. They had also put me on a gag order to tell no one about this war since they didn't want it to affect their trade and stocks."

"You have my apologies James. I never thought the council would be so crude. I assume you left them to the mercy of the nightmare they created?"

"You would assume correctly. I only worried about saving my people Ozpin. I didn't have enough time nor was I willing to spare them men to rescue them. I long had grievance against my fellow council member. While I never wished for this end for them, I will not shed a single tear for them."

"Indeed. Now I'm sure you called because you need assistance in your darkest hours. How can I help old friend?"

"We need someplace to recuperate and figure out what to do from here."

"I see. Well since we were already preparing for the Vytal festival we should have enough space to support you temporarily. We will help you as long as we possibly can."

"Thank you Ozpin. We will be there by tomorrow morning." He said before hanging up. With that said Ozpin turned to us and declared. "Well it appears that the world continues to change. We have our work cut out for us."

I didn't truly realize it at that moment, but that last sentence from Oz was the understatement of the year.


	27. Sullivan

We didn't have much time to prepare before the Atlas Refugees arrived at Beacon's Docks. We only had a two days before the first of the the ships arrived. Apparently one of the ships was badly damaged so it is slowing down the entire fleet. Oz was a flurry of action immediately getting in contact with the council. We weren't allowed to be included in the calls, most likely due to us bad mouthing them on live TV not too long ago. We were pulled off to the side into a room adjacent to the office. It was a smaller room with literal tons of coffee packed into it. Well. That explains the never ending coffee.

As soon as the calls ended we were pulled back into the room by Glynda. Making our way towards Ozpin he spoke up.

"I understand you have no love for the council, you have made that abundantly apparent. However we have no choice but to cooperate with them for the time being. We have reached an agreement for medical supplies along with other resources in exchange for your services. Along with you publicly fighting side by side with the VPD to show a united front against this threat. Do you understand?" Ozpin stated with authority.

"Yes sir. Received and understood Sir." Kopman spoke up for us.

"Good. Now that we are all on the same page, I must ask you all to make your way to Vale tomorrow morning. You need to make your way to the Vale Police Headquarters and establish a plan on how to fight off the Fang attack on the Docks. For now, I assume you all want some rest, and perhaps some time to sharpen your skills. There are indoor and outdoor ranges next to the armory if you wish to practice. You are all dismissed." Ozpin said as he turned his back to us.

We took that as our cue to leave and made our way down to our dorm. The entire way there was completely silent. Not a single student in the halls. I'm sure they are all huddled in their rooms, watching the news like we were not too long ago. Eventually, we made it to our room. As soon as we opened the door Darius was the first to greet us.

"Hey! Bastard!...woh. What's wid de long face mon'?" Darius asked as soon as we saw him.

"Oh! That's right you have no access to any news source." Kopman responded.

"Well yah! I'm da prisoner. Can't do much but fuck wit you."

"Well. Atlas is gone. Like gone. Dead. Kaput. Sleeping with the fishes. Taking a dirt nap. The White Fang and what we think are Russian Communists have taken over." I stated morosely. "If they are Russians, it's bad news. Very bad news."

"I can see dat. From da look on yo faces as you spat do's words, I can tell. You hate dese mothafuckas." Darius mused. "Wat ya goin' ta do about it?"

"Preferably, put some 5.56 in their faces. Maybe some 40mm up the ass, run them over with the Humvee. Basic shit, ya know?" Volk chuckled darkly as he grabbed his plate carrier, refitting whatever gear he used last op.

"We were told to chill until we go to the PD." I offered weakly.

"Ya know. I am the Corporal here. Supposed to be the responsible one. But I also really want to kill some commies." Kopman retorted. Fuck.

"Look, so do I. But we're a man down, everything is in chaos, we now have targets on our backs, and we have no support here anymore. Besides Ozpin and Glynda, everybody hates us." Wow. Where'd I learn to bitch like that?

"Frias. I'm surprised at you. You have a lot at stake brother. What's the deal?" Volk asked, his voice tinged with concern as he laid a hand on my shoulder.

"I…..I don't know man. Everything is so… It fell apart man. Everything was supposed to be chill. We had friends here. We were gonna start our new lives here. Now we're at War, Atlas has fallen to Communism, and we have no one left. Excuse me if I'm less than entertained by this current predicament." I replied. Despite the big words I spoke earlier today, my faith had been shaken. Was it worth fighting for a people that hated us? Was it any different than America? That Lisa Lavender might've been on to something. Why didn't we just sit back and let them kill each other? They obviously didn't want us.

I was honestly expecting Kopman to lose it, go full Corporal on me. But surprisingly, he didn't.

"Man… I don't know. I don't fuckin' know man. Shit man. Rodgers was our drive. Our motivation. And when he….When he died man…..I don't know man….Honestly...I've been looking to quit this shit. I've wanted to get the fuck out...god….since Rodgers got offed...and then this shit happened….Honestly. I just wanted go out in glory man. It's not fuckin worth it to live anymore. Not here. Not nowhere. Hell, that shit still comes up every now and again. But man….I do what I gotta do for you guys. The soldier to my right and to my left. Nothing else matters now. Just each other. And goddammit, if I'll ever let any one of you Glorious Bastards go quietly into the night. Damn it man. I miss Rodgers. I miss the fuckin Regiment. I miss the Sarge, Top. Hell, I even miss the fuckin Lieutenant Bootenant. But they aren't here right now. We are. And hot damn. You three motherfuckers are all I need. So honestly, Frias. I get it. I understand. But man. We gotta fight for each other. Because if the Grimm, White Fang, God forbid the Council or the Commies. If they win, I will have failed you. I fight not for the people of this world. Let them burn. You men. You are all that matters to me." Kopman was silent after this, just looking between me and Volk.

I stood there for a moment, lost in my own thoughts, before my head snapped up. Resolve clear in my eyes. I walked over to my Plate Carrier, and began preparing for war. My mags were reloaded, and I placed them in my mag pouches and rifle. My Kevlar, bloodied and the cover torn, I clipped to my plate carrier. I turned back to Kopman, and offered him my hand. "Hooah Corporal?"

He smiled, and his hand grasped mine, shaking it firmly. "Hooah Soldier." With that, he turned to our desk, where some maps had been laid out.

"Alright. We currently have two Theaters to monitor. Atlas and here. What it sounded like our prisoners think is the White Fang are making a raid on the SDC Cargo to send a message. I personally think that's dumb. Are we of the same mind that they want something in those Cargo Containers?" He asked as he sat down, motioning to the map of the docks.

"Hooah!" Came our reply.

"Outstanding. I want to know what. Word on the street is the Schnee bitch hasn't had her stuff taken out of her dorm. I want in that shit. I wanna know what is in that Cargo Shipment. Frias. I hate to ask you man. But you need to get in there. Snag her scroll. Can you do it?"

Where did all that talk go about helping us out? I really wanted to kick his ass right then. "Sure Corporal. I can do it." My mouth betrayed me. Why? Why? Just when it couldn't get worse. I had to open my mouth. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid…

"Alright. Frias, you can have at it. Be back by nightfall. Hooah?"

"Hooah Corporal." I muttered. I instinctively grabbed my M4 on the way out. Walking down the halls, I thought of what I was gonna say. "Hey Yang, I just need your teammates scroll so we can look through that shit. Nothing bad, just wanna see what kinda goodies her fam sent to Vale. Can't tell ya why because OPSEC as fuck. Yeah, gimme?" I muttered. That would go so fucking well….NOT! That's how you die.

"Fuuuuuuuuuck….." I groaned. Why the hell did I volunteer? That's a big nono. Enlisted Soldiers who wanna live do not volunteer for shit. Fuck. I found myself staring at Team RWBY's door. It was opened a crack. The possibility that the sisters may have been out crossed my mind, and without further ado, I stepped silently into the room. Only to come upon the sight of Ruby, her knees tucked to her chest, her head resting on them, and her shoulders shaking. She looked up as the carpet creaked, tears flowing down her face, her silver eyes bloodshot. She looked at me, her gaze meeting mine. We stayed there for a moment, locked in….It wasn't a staring contest...more like….an acknowledgement of the others existence in that moment. I finally broke the eye contact, unslinging my rifle and setting it against the desk, and taking a seat a comfortable distance away from Ruby. I sat there silently, contemplating what I was going to say.

"I'm sorry….about Weiss….It wasn't supposed to happen like that…" I offered demurely. I heard a ruffling of cloth, and saw Ruby turn to me.

"...Then why did it?" Her small voice broke the silence. "Why did she have to be the example?"

"...I…..I don't know….I lost my cool….couldn't get it back in time….." I replied.

"Why does it bother you so much? What she said? I know you lost people you love….but so have a lot of us….She says the same things to me daily…." She asked. There was no hostility behind her words.

"You still have a home. You still have a sister whose shoulder you can cry on." I muttered. I lifted up the sleeve of my ACUs on my right arm, revealing the black metal bracelet on my wrist.

Spc. Rodgers, Alex

19841121-20080515

82nd Airborne, 508th AIR

"I lost my brother a while ago. Not by blood, but damn….If we weren't closer than brothers…..I don't know...The pain comes and goes. Always feeling like I could've done something to save him...Rage that I wasn't able to...Hatred for the people that killed him…I fucking hate them. Haji's, Taliban, ISIS, all of them. I want nothing more than to put them in the grave… But I gotta remember….I can't do it alone. I can't do any of it alone. I have my brothers, left and right of me. I have to take care of them like they take care of me. And I let them down. I let you all down when I let my rage take over…I hope she pulls through…" I finished. We sat there for a while, just enjoying the silence. Finally, Ruby stood up, and, sniffling lightly, told me to wait a moment. As she went to the closet to grab what I assumed was her cloak, I pinpointed Weiss's bag. Have to accomplish the mission. I found the scroll right away, and pocketed it just as Ruby came back.

"Ready?" She asked. I nodded, and gave a low grunt. She smiled, and started out the door. "Good, follow me."

It took us a bit of walking, but we made it. On one of the many cliffs looking over Forever Fall. There was a stone plaque. On it was Ruby's symbol, underneath which was written:

Summer Rose

Huntress, Mother, Inspiration.

We stood there in silence for a moment, before Ruby started talking.

"Hey mom….It's been a while, I know….a lot has… a lot has happened….Team RWBY no longer exists...Yang stormed off somewhere...I feel like a failure...but I remembered the stories you told me… how tough it was. And I know in the end it's worth it...I miss you mom...I-I really wish you could be here right now...To just hug me and tell me it's gonna be okay...A-and maybe...Maybe it would be, in the end. Maybe Blake would come back, maybe Weiss would get better and her dad would let her come back to Beacon and she could be nice to me...and… and...maybe I could figure out how to be a good leader...I wish you were here mom...you would know just what to do…" Ruby steeled herself, voice wavering as tears fell from her silver eyes. "But I know that you'd want me to be strong. I know you'd want me to make my own mistakes, and learn from them. I know you'd want me to fight for what I have...So I will… Mom...I hope I never have to go through losing a partner….there's a man there...with you in the beyond… his name is Rodgers...tell him that Frias misses him…" With that, Ruby took a step back. I choked up.

"H-Hey...Miss Rose. I'm Frias. With the Army… I did wrong by Ruby. I lost it, and I hope you can forgive me, and allow me to help her become an outstanding leader… Because I know she can be great. I've seen her in action. Your daughter is gonna do great things ma'am...My parents really hated me for joining the Army...It's heartening to see the fire in Ruby for this work. And to know she got it from you. It's motivating...And if you do happen to see a guy who looks like he was dropped as a child and wears ACUs, tell him I miss him. More than anything...Ma'am. Have a good evening." I took a step back after that. It felt like some weight had been lifted. Not all of it. But some.

"Mom...I love you...I'll come and see you more often...I promise...Bye." Ruby offered cutely, kissing the tips of her fingers, then laying them against the Rose pattern. A warm, comfortable breeze flowed through the air beside us, and Ruby smiled. "Thanks mom." She mouthed. Ruby turned around, and we began walking back to the dorms.

"Hey Ruby." I announced.

"Yes?" She squeaked, looking up at me.

"Wanna blow off some steam?" I asked.

"How so?"

"I wanna shoot something."

"Range?"

"Range."

Which was how we ended up at the range 15 minutes later. I had the M82, my M4, M9, and Ruby has her Crescent Rose, which we determined after a moment was basically an M82 with a Bayonet on drugs.

"Alright. Range, 500 Meters, wind, not a fucking bit. Ready when you are." I muttered as I looked through my optic, my earplugs snug in my ear, Ruby's shooters earmuffs making me jelly as fuck. We were in prone position, shooting at targets 500 meters away.

"Ready." Came Ruby's voice as her finger moved down the trigger, her thumb flipping her safety off. I lowered my finger, and took a breath.

"RANGE IS HOT!" I shouted, just in case any fucking dingus wanted to fuck with life. "Fire at will."

With that, we began firing our weapons, my M4 jerking with each squeeze of the trigger, the paper target slowly starting to gather holes in a tight cluster. I finished my magazine, and dropped it just as Ruby finished hers, dropping the magazine from Crescent Rose.

We got up to look at the damage.

"Eyy! Not bad for a gringa!"

"Who you callin' a gringa? Uh….what's a gringa?"

I laughed. Hard. "Oh man. It's a thing from home. White Girl. Just roll wit it"

"Uhhh...okay. So now that we know I can shoot better than you-"

"Uh, naw. We all know I'm the best Marksman here. That Gun. Yeah. Big girl. But not like my baby. Dust ain't got nothing on hot lead."

"Bet! We shoot both rounds, they're the same caliber, so we can have three and three."

"...Let's do this shit."

So that's how we ended up prone, sighted on a set of targets at least a half mile away.

"Distance, 2,640 feet, Wind, Southwest gently." So pretty much perfect. Let's do this. "Fire when ready."

I released the bolt on my M82, and the first dust round was forced into place. "I took my time, drew in a breath, exhaled, squeezed the trigger…

*POP*

"Hahaha what the fuck? It didn't even kick!" I nearly choked on laughter as I pulled the chamber open, allowing the spent round to fall out. The process was the same for the last two. No power to push the bolt back. Now it was time for the lead. This was gonna be so fun.

Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze.

*BAM*

"FUCK!" I shouted. It didn't hurt. But it was definitely… shocking. To say the least. I got right back into the groove, and took my last two shots.

"Alright Rubes. All you."

She just smirked as she welded her cheek to the stock of Crescent Rose, and relaxed. The three dust rounds went off in rapid succession, each hitting the target in a tight grouping. As she switched out the mags, I stopped her, before offering her my plate carrier.

"Trust me on this Ruby. You're gonna want it." I said. She nodded and accepted the armor. After clipping everything that needed to be clipped, she went back prone again.

Inhale, exhale, squeeze.

*BAM*

"Wohohohoah! THAT WAS SO COOL!" Ruby shrieked with glee. I just gave her a wtf look. My shoulder was throbbing, even with the plate carrier. And yet we have 16 year old Ruby who's taking it like a boss. Man….I feel old now.

*BAM BAM*

"Oof I take it back arm is sore."

HA! That's what you get!

"You good Rubes?" I asked.

"Yeap. It gives a kick though." She mused. I chuckled.

"Yeah no shit. 50 caliber lead. Take out a tank with this motherfucker, ya know, long range decapitations. The like."

"Yeah... Okay then. You have fun with that." She laughed a little as she rolled onto her back. "Ah. That was fun."

"Yeah. Shooting range is a good way to blow off steam. Damn. Should've done this a while ago. Puts shit into perspective, ya know?" I mused.

"Yeah. It does...It really does. I'm sorry for what Weiss said about you guys...you're pretty tough...I think we can be friends." Ruby offered after a moment.

I smiled. "Yeah. I think so too."

We broke into laughter. I kind of knew at that moment, we were gonna be okay for now. Ruby was gonna be okay. I felt the small weight of Weiss's scroll in my pocket, and knew that we would accomplish the mission.

After some talking, we departed as friends. Ruby went back to her dorm, and I went back to mine. I threw Weiss's scroll to Kopman, and collapsed on my bed. I knew nothing but sleep within seconds.


	28. Negotiator

I woke to the sounds of giggling and a camera snapping, and grumbled. So much fucking noise. Too early for that dumb shit. I stretched gently, mindful of Gwen, who was pressed against me, my arms around h- WHAT?! One motherfucking moment. The fuck is happening? What? Wait a minute. Those voices. That camera. My soul literally felt like it died as I realized what had occurred. Fuck me ten ways to Sunday. I cracked my eye open gently, enough to see vaguely what was going on.

Kopman and Volk were grinning like the retards they were, guffawing to themselves stupidly as they took pictures of me and Gwen with their scrolls. Darius sat there, looking at the two idiots with a "you Dumbfuck" look painted across his face.

"Oy den. You have had yo fun. Now can you do yourse'f a favor, and wake him up, so he doesn't kill you when he does on 'is own. Because I kno fo' a fact! He's not goin ta enjoy what you two monkey's a' doin!" He exclaimed, getting dressed as he watched the onslaught of stupid.

"Aw naw man. He's cool with us. We're all brothers. He'll just laugh it off." Volk spoke through his choked laughter.

Laugh it off, my ass, you little fucknuts.

I briefly considered leaping out of the bed and shoving his oversized phone up his ass, but I remembered that Gwen was attached to me, literally, and that in this state, excess amounts of Violence and Gore may be too much for her to witness. Pity. I'll have to wait to murder you Volk.

"Alright. Alright. Enough of your fun. Help me get her off of me. She's clinging to me harder than that ex of yours did Volk." I whispered back at the idiots. She really was clinging on to me hard.

"Nigga what you say about my ex?" Volk asked not too quietly. Bruh. Do you understand the concept of a pissed off rudely awakened emotional female adolescent. You fucked.

"Well shit Volk. We all knew she was psycho. You were the only one who didn't see it." Kopman responded just as loudly, causing Gwen to groan awake slowly.

"Well den. You boys don fucked up Mon." Darius spoke as he saw Gwen waking up and rolled himself out to the bathroom.

As soon as he left the room a pillow beamed Volk right in the kisser.

"Shut the fuck up and let me sleep" Gwen growled like a demon before clinging onto me once more.

Kopman meanwhile had dived for cover behind one of the beds, strapping in his Kevlar.

"Man, Volk. You fuckin got yeeted." Kopman chuckled, slightly more silent than earlier.

I had to fight back a chuckle. A pillow is rather soft. So to knock a full grown man, furthermore a soldier. There was quite a bit of force behind it. Force I did not want to necessarily be on the business end of. I know that my sisters were horrible in the mornings, but this is a little ridiculous. Maybe I should try the gentle approach, after all we needed to go to Vale and deal with the VPD That morning..

So hesitantly, I started to shake her awake. As soon as I did, Volk bolted to cover with Kopman.

"Hey. I know you really don't want to wake up right now, but we really need to get up. I have to go to the VPD today." That got her to startle awake.

"Nonononono you can't give me to the VPD. Please! They'll torture me and kill me!" She pleaded with a 180 degree change in attitude. Pure terror in her eyes.

"Don't worry. Calm down. We aren't handing you over. We just have to go with them for assistance with the entire Atlas situation."

"Atlas situation?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Well I guess you slept through that. To summarize. Atlas has fallen and chaos reigns free. We have to coordinate with them to protect Vale and the Refugees that will be arriving from Atlas." I said as I rubbed her back. "Now I like cuddling as much as the next person, but do you mind letting go so we can get ready for the day?"

As soon as I say that she blushes and lets go although she looks utterly confused and lost. Not that I blame her at all. After all the supposedly strongest kingdom on Remnant just fell. It would be similar to someone saying one of the G7 countries fell in a night. I couldn't even begin to understand the ramifications of this. Not even including the economic backlash from this. I'm sure every kingdom is currently in some form of panic right now. Regardless of the situation I have to get out of bed to go about my morning routine. Looking at the clock I see that we have two hours before we have to meet up with the VPD.

The other two idiots were all suited up and ready to go. Seems like we were going with BCS and Kevlar. Fully armed too. I can dig that. Can't afford to be too safe. It didn't take me long to be up and ready to go. However before we can go I grabbed one of our chairs, and put it in the shower. I then helped Gwen to the bathroom, and helped sit her down on it so that she could shower herself. We left her to do that while myself, Darius, and the two dumbfucks quickly went and grabbed enough breakfast for five.

By the time we came back Gwen, was dried and redressed in the shower. I changed her bandages, after which I carried her back to the bed. Darius told me that he had showered while I was asleep. So we were all clean and ready for the day.

We all ate our fill and then went ahead and left the two with Mallaurie and Newlin since they needed to be supervised, seeing as they were technically prisoners of war. 'Technically'. Pretty sure they were gonna be with us doing great things soon.

"Yo! Frias. What do you think about this situation with the Reds? Think it's bad enough that we have to actually play nice with the council?" Kopman asked while he put the address into his scroll as we made our way to the bullhead. "Because you don't seem too keen on playing nice with them after your outburst during our press conference."

Sitting myself down in the Bullhead, I sighed before responding. "I really don't like the idea of playing nice with those pricks, but then again the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So we gotta take all the help we can get. Especially if there are enough of those red bastards to take down a whole country. Besides I have a couple ideas of how to take advantage of our situation to defeat them."

"Such as?"

"Well we have to take advantage of the fact that they have to come to us if they really are intent on attacking us. Which we don't know if they intend to do. For all we know they could be taking their time and consolidating their hold on the country which could take years. Our more pressing issue is the local WF. Take the time that the reds and Atlas WF need to fix up their holdings and use that time to wipe out the local opposition without fear of major reinforcements from Atlas. Then, when slash if they do come, we have the advantage of playing defense. We can rig the forests with mines, establish kill zones, create reinforced cement pill boxes, increase our anti-air capabilities, train militias on how to fight with guerilla warfare tactics and urban warfare. Create a 'Vale Self Defense Force' that is loyal to Beacon, with Huntsman as commanding officers." I explained as I leaned back to get as comfortable as possible. "We have time and manpower. Now we just need resources which we are planning on securing now. So that means playing nice with the council, but by no means does that mean that we kiss ass. They need us as much as we need them. They might have their own huntsmen and security forces, but they need every last fighter possible for the foreseeable future. This will have to be a mutual alliance. We have to meet them on even ground. That means no backing down and taking any shit from them. We also need to turn the Faunus in the area in support of us. Obviously they aren't supportive of the Council, so in that aspect we need to distance ourselves from them in the public eye. We should run security patrols in Faunus areas to increase security and build trust with them. Hearts and minds. You know the drill. We should also start up an Orphanage in the area to take the kids off the street, and build food kitchens. Building shelters and hiring construction workers to fix up the area. It will cost a lot of money and manpower, but It will go a long way to improve our support amongst the locals and take a large portion of power away from the council. It will also lessen support for the WF in the city. Granted we should absolutely keep all of the Atlas refugees away from these projects, I wouldn't see it ending well. So, what do you all think?"

"Damn Frias. I never knew you had enough brain cells left to put something like this together. It sounds a lot like we tried to do in Afghanistan. That shit didn't work out too well. But fuck it. Maybe these guys will be more reasonable. After all it isn't like we are invading them. Fuck it might as well give it a shot. What do you think?", Kopman says, looking over towards Volk, " You've been pretty quiet so far."

"I don't like the idea of having to go through all this hearts and minds bullshit again, but fuck it! Might as well give it a shot, I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty of action soon enough anyways. Gotta pay those assholes back for what they did to Newlin. As far as I'm concerned that's my only priority. All that other shit comes second." Volk states darkly

We all gave a 'Hooah!' to that.

"I have the distinct feeling Newlin will end up milking the injury to get some good pussy." I voiced, chuckling patting Volk on the back, "He's going to be fine, this place has some pretty advanced prosthetics. I'm sure he'll have Ruby put a shotgun or something in it. He'll be back with us in the grind trying to get pussy while dodging bullets in no time."

"War is stressful bro, can't blame him for wanting to release that stress." Volk voiced stupidly in a slightly lighter tone.

"Oh don't worry. We already know about his need to relieve stress on the battlefield. Remember when he fuckin' wanked one out during the middle of a mortar attack." Kopman laughed as he spoke. We all have a laugh as we remembered the fuckfest that was that day.

"Fuck, dude yeah. He was all like 'If I am going to die, I ain't going down without wanking out one more.' Oh man, he was probably thinking about Alexis Texas as he wanked it." Volk announced, a stupid smile on his face. We all let out a good laugh at that one. All this talk about war and scheming has made us way too tense.

"Talking about wanking it, are we still taking Ren and Jaune out Saturday right?" I ask as I relax more into my seat as I see the city coming into view.

"Oh hell yeah! Besides the Refugees. Nothing has really changed. Except for your shoulder getting all kinds of fucked up. Does Emily know about it?" Kopman asked as he prepares for us to land.

"Ah shit! She doesn't know about it." I deflated in my seat. "Bruhhhhhh. Fuuuuuuuck."

"Welp…..You are all kinds of screwed mi amigo" Volk said as we all stepped out of the bullhead and headed towards our parked Humvee.

Yes. Yes I am so completely and utterly fucked. Fuck. Fuck me sideways. She most definitely saw the news. Oh she saw the news. And the press conference. Fuuuuuck

"I'm toast. I'm dead. Gone. She's gonna take my head off. I'm so screwed boys. Kopman, you can have my phone and laptop. Volk….you can have everything else."

"I suggest buying her chocolates. Women love that shit." Volk said next to me as he climbed into the driver's seat. I climbed in behind him.

"I doubt that would calm her down, especially when the news showed a fucking katana get shoved through my shoulder." I retorted.

"Yeah that was pretty badass though", Kopman offered from the front passenger's seat as he opened his scroll to check the GPS.

"Yeah it was fucking badass. It'll be a cool ass story to tell your kids in the future." Volk said, as the jackass Kopman gave me a firm pat right on the shoulder.

"OH! You fucking asshole! It still hurts!"

"Oops my bad bro." Kopman grinned cheekily.

"Oh fuck off. You did that on purpose."

"Well I didn't know you were going to be a little bitch about it."

"Oh shut up both of you. You's is squealing like a butt fucked pack of Bitches!" Volk chuckled. "We are here by the way."

Kopman and I bumped knuckles, and he turned to us.

"Alright. I know that y'all don't really have to be told, but I have to do it because I'm a Corporal and you're not. Remember to act like professionals. For all intents and purposes, this will be our first meeting with our temporary allies. We should not appear weak in any way, shape, or form. Tracking?" Kopman announced as he took off the medical wrist brace he had been wearing earlier, grunting in pain as his broken wrist became mobile.

"Hooah!"

"Alright let's do this shit." He smiled as he pounded the center panel with his good fist, the both of us doing the same.

Getting out of the Humvee, we took in the parking lot in front of the large black building, the words "Department of Defense and Security" in gold letters written on the side of the building. We quickly determined that we were in a good spot, and started moving.

We made our way to the main doors, where two men stood, dressed in two unique outfits, with one carrying a longsword, and the other, a spiked club. Both wore the exact same color scheme, black and gold. They wore tinted sunglasses, and earpieces in each of their ears. I assumed that these were two of the mercenary Huntsmen that Ozpin had alluded to earlier.

As we got to the door, they blocked our path.

"For what purpose are you coming to the Department of Defense and Security. None of you belong to the Department. Do you have an appointment? I highly doubt measly militiamen from the countryside have anything of worth to contribute." Douchebag with the club said in an utterly obnoxious manner, with a smug grin that I wished I could wipe off his fucking face. Seemed like he thought he was better than us. I pegged him right then and there. There was no way I was going to trust any of these motherfuckers out in the field.

"Yeah Jackass. We actually do come here for a purpose. We are here on the orders of Headmaster Ozpin. We are here to speak with Joseph Winchester. So if you can go fetch him like the dog you are it would be much appreciated." Kopman said with a menacing gaze. Seems like I'm not the only one that wants to wipe that smug look off that douchebag's face.

"What the fuck did you call me you piece of shit?" Douchebag number one says getting all up in his face. Right as it looks like we are about to get into a fight Douchebag number two grabs his friend and drags him back.

"Cool it man! I have confirmation that they do have the council's permission to enter. We don't want to piss off the council. Just let them through man."

"Fuck it man you bastards aren't worth it. Get in and get out of my sight."

"Well what if we don't want to get out of your face? Maybe we'll just sit here and be a pain in your ass all da-" Volk starts before Kopman interrupts him.

"Cool it Volk we are here for a purpose. Let's go and do what we came here to do and get outta this shithole."

"Yes Corporal."

"Yeah keep your dog on a leash Corporal." Douchebag number one says before he gets cuffed on the head by his friend, "That's enough. Go in and go up the elevator to floor three. Chief Winchester is waiting for you there. Just go and do your business."

With that said we enter the building to come into one of the nicest lobbies I have ever seen with marble floors and crystal chandeliers. We make our way over to the elevator that has gold plated doors. Talk about expressing your wealth. This blatant display of wealth causes my blood to boil. How dare there be such wealth when there are poor and starving people just down the street. This wasn't even a house of the councilmen. That I would understand, but for the Department of Defense and Security to have so much money and still not be able to properly police the city spoke volumes about this city.

We walked over to the elevator in silence. Once we enter the elevator and the doors close Kopman says, "Damn rich bastards. I can't wait to see them on their knees."

"Don't worry brother. the time will come, It won't be for a while though. So just play nice for now. The time will come eventually." I reply as I set my left hand on his shoulder.

"and we will be ready" Volk says as he checks his rifle.

With that the doors open and we come face to face with a large 6 ft 5 inch (195cm) man with orange hair and a smile that made the other guy's smile seem honest.

"Ah you must be Ozpin's men. I was informed just a while ago that you were arriving. I am Joseph Winchester it's a pleasure to meet you. Please follow me to the strategy room."

Well at least he can act professionally even though his ego can be seen from the moon. I wonder if his little brother has an equally punchable face.

Nonetheless we follow the smug bastard towards his "strategy room".

We arrive in a room where we see two other men in black and gold police uniforms. By the stripes on their uniform they are obviously important men in this police department.

"May I introduce Lt. Daniels in charge the standard patrol police" he says, pointing to the older man in his 40s with salt and pepper hair and a waxed moustache that is so cliche villain that its cringe worthy. The rather lanky man nods at us and we return the nod as is respectful. Even if he looks the part we can't assume he is a smug bastard.

"And Lt. LaCroix in charge of the SWAT division." He finishes pointing to the last man in the room. A rather large well built man with a shaved head and no facial hair. He looks like the human version of a bulldog. He doesn't even acknowledge us in the slightest.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Chief Winchester, Lt. Daniels, and Lt. LaCroix. My name is Cpl. Kopman. You may refer to me as such. My men right to left are Pvt. Volk, Pfc. Frias and Pfc. Newlin.`` Kopman said in his most professional and calm manner. Even though I know it's killing him to be so nice to these bastards.

"Well met Cpl. Kopman. We received word that you had news that concerns the safety of Vale?", Lt. Daniels States respectfully. Huh maybe he ain't so bad after all. I'll reserve judgement.

"Yes we know of a raid that the White Fang will conduct on the Valean docks next weekend. They are attacking a Schnee Freighter with anywhere between 500 and 2,000 men." Kopman says.

"How did you come by this information?", Winchester asked as he rubbed his hairless chin as he began pacing back and forth.

"We gathered this information from a prior mission. If anything they will be bringing more men and fire power than they had planned to bring."

"Good more animals to the slaughter", Lt. LaCroix barked like the dog he is. I really do not like this man at all.

"What was this mission in which you came by this information?", Winchester asked.

"Its classified. You'll have to request the information from Ozpin, but you can trust that this information is accurate. At worse it will only be a dud and no blood will be shed."

"Fair enough. We will proceed under the trust that this information is true. Lt. LaCroix how many men would you be able to spare for this operation?"

"I will take my entire force of 30 men. We alone should be enough to slaughter these animals. After all there is no possibility we can lose to a pack of animals." Lt. LaCroix barked out as he laughed at the possibility of losing to what he deemed an inferior enemy. Truly the ego of these men is overwhelming. That could really come in handy when we bring the fight to them, but will hurt our chances against the WF and reds.

"Be that as it may we can't risk losing this engagement. Lt. Daniels how many police can you spare for this operation?."

"Sir we can contribute only 50 men to this operation. The rest are needed elsewhere." Lt. Daniels replied.

Damn him how can he have 50 spare officers and not use a single one for a meaningful purpose?

"Well that brings the total to 80 men plus yourselves gentlemen. Worry not for odds. After all one of our men is easily worth 10 animals."

"Well if we plan ahead and prepare the battlefield with mines, defensive positions and use wise strategy I can easily see a group of 84 men defeating a group of a thousand men." Kopman spoke out as calmly as possible. "However to be sure of our odds, I'll ask Ozpin to Spare a few teams of Huntsman to support us."

This is why he is in charge he can show restraint and calm. I'm just doing everything in my power not to kick this fucking human piece of shit out of the window in this office.

"Yeah against this many men we would need strategy. But these are animals. It will be an easy slaughter. There is no need for such plans." Lt. LaCroix barked out with his disgusting laugh.

"It is best to never underestimate your enemies. Regardless of their training. If you allow your ego to dictate this battle then you will not only cause the deaths of your men but my men as well!"

"Bah we do not need your boys. You are but boys thinking you know of battle. You are barely off your mother's tit and you dare to believe you know more about killing measly animals than I? Ha that is laughable. If you believe your men would die then be a coward and leave this mission to us."

The three of us laughed. Hard. Oh, if only these fuckers knew about Afghanistan. Heh! They'd be singin' a whole different tune.

"There is no need for any of that Lt. LaCroix. I apologize for him. If you believe that to be true then please allow us to separate our battle grounds. You may take the Northern sector of the docks while we take the rest. You may prepare YOUR battlefield however you wish. The result will inevitably be the same regardless. You shall see your fears will have been misplaced.`` Winchester proclaimed trying to be a good politician and appease us while still being a racist shit.

"That is fine with us. If we find ourselves flanked we will assume you lost your fight and we will retreat." Kopman said laying out flatly that we will not come to their rescue if their ego backfires.

"Bah fine with us. If you look over to your flank you will only see us slaughtering these animals by the hundreds. It will be you who would need saving not us."

"I've heard all I've needed when it comes to this attack. However we also have the Issue of Atlas." Kopman responded.

"Ah yes how the mighty have fallen. They must have gotten mighty full of themselves to fall to a pack of wild animals." Lt. LaCroix barked.

"It wasn't just the White Fang that took them down. They are accompanied by a force that call themselves Soviets. They are well trained fighters and are extremely dangerous. They are all human as far as I know. They believe in the complete destruction of all the kingdoms in order to create a society where everyone is equal in every way. Including and most importantly wealth. They absolutely hate the rich and will do everything they can to slaughter every single rich person on this world." Volk said in an even tone not betraying any emotion.

"I see. That is quite the issue. It would certainly explain how Atlas fell so easily. We must prepare ourselves for this threat. I'll speak to the council in regards to this." Winchester replied worriedly.

"There is also the issue of the Refugees that will be arriving in the next couple of days. The remnants of the Atlesian Military are seeking refuge at Beacon. Which we will gladly give. The only issue is that we don't have the resources to keep them fed and sheltered for more than a week. We were hoping that the Council would be able to send us supplies to help our allies." Kopman stated.

"Is Ironwood still alive?" Winchester replied hopefully.

"Yes as far as we know he is leading the fleet that is making its way to Beacon. It should be here within twenty four hours."

"Good. Good. We will send you your supplies in two days time as long as you send Ironwood to a meeting with the council as soon as he arrives." Winchester responded with a grin extending his hand.

"Sounds like a deal. Beacon will send you exact numbers on what we need shortly." Kopman said shaking his hand.

"Good. Also remember, just because all of this is going on don't think the Council has forgotten your words. There will be repercussions. You boys got yourselves into a game you don't even know how to play. The only reason you aren't in a cell or dead is because of this precarious situation. We need you because you are good at killing those animals. That is the only reason. Consider it a professional courtesy to let you that as soon as we defeat these enemies you must leave Vale and never come back. I'm sure you country bumpkins would rather prefer it out in the wilds anyways." Winchester said with his phony smug smile.

"And if we don't leave?" Kopman said squeezing his hand harder with a stony look on his face.

"Now now. Don't think like that! We wouldn't want to get uncivilized now would we?" Winchester replied with a wider smirk on his face.

"No, there is no reason to become uncivilized. Right Volk?" Kopman said as he saw Volk lifting his rifle ever so slightly causing everybody in the room to reach for their own weapons. "We will see you on the battlefield next week Sunday."

"Yes you shall. Have a good day gentlemen. Oh and say hi to my little brother for me the little shit still owes me 30 lien please remind him for me will you?" Winchester said as we relaxed our holds on our weapons and started leaving the room.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that", Kopman says his final words before we leave them to stoke their own egos.

We make our exit out of the building silently not even sparing a glance at the douchebags outside that are glaring at us.

Once we make it into the Humvee Kopman finally speaks, "They are going to end up getting most of their men killed. We must prepare for the inevitability that this battle might not be won. I want us to place our Humvee a block north of the docks in case of a quick retreat. We will do what we can and fight as hard as we can, but we will not lose our lives for these assholes. They made it abundantly clear that we are not friends. Just reluctant allies. We will flee if the fight is unwinnable. However we will give ourselves a fighting chance. Frias I want you practicing on the 50 Cal. We have weapon maintenance and training class tomorrow. Take that time to practice with the Barrett. Volk I want you to see if they have mines or if we will have to make weapons. Newlin I want you to acquire Barbed wire. I will acquire sandbags. We will make this fight a Hell for the White Fang. Frias while you back us up from a distance I also want you to keep an eye on how the rest of the battle is going. If our "Allies" start to crumble I want you to tell me immediately so we can bug out. You all got that?"

"Yes Cpl!"

"Good because we have some work to do."

Elsewhere, a lone man lay prone on the top of a building, his check against the stock of an M82. His eyes bore down the optical scope as he sighted in the head of the large man reaching for his weapon. "Those soldiers better be damn quick." He muttered to himself as his finger moved to the trigger. He slowed his breathing. In, out. In, out. The men through his optics relaxed as the soldiers left the room.

"Well shit Chaz. They got out. Was expecting to put out a fucker today." The man said as he patted the head of the dog next to him. "I guess they train our soldier boys to be good negotiators."

Chaz just grunted. The man pulled off the black concealment cloak, and went to his knees, putting away everything in his duffel bag. He put the M82 on his back, the strap over his shoulders pulled tight. He then grabbed the MARPAT duffel, and ran to the fire escape. Ducking through alley ways and side streets, he made it to the Vale Junkyard.

"Hey Chaz. What do you say about dinner huh?" He patted the German Shepard's head as he lifted a tarp, opened the back hatch of his vehicle, and threw everything inside. Climbing in after, the dog following, he closed the hatch.

"I think it's time to set things in motion. What say you to Friday Chazzy?" He asked the dog. The K9 just sneezed.

"Yeah. I think so too. We should make our entrance on Friday. And now, to chow." Said the man with a grin as he ripped open a Cheese Tortellini MRE. Pulling out the crackers, he gave one to Chaz, who wolfed it down. Breaking the other cracker in half, he gave one half to Chaz, while he poured the dog some water.

"It's gonna be a long week." The man sighed as he continued to share his meal with his new dog.

"A long fuckin' week."


End file.
